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BRIEF COURSE SERIES IN EDUCATION 

EDITED BY 

PAUL MONROE, Ph.D. 



SCHOOL HYGIENE 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK - BOSTON • CHICAGO ■ DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



BRIEF COURSE SERIES IN EDUCATION 



SCHOOL HYGIENE 



BY 



FLETCHER B. DRESSLAR, Ph.D. 

SPECIALIST IN SCHOOL HYGIENE AND SCHOOL SANITATION 
UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1916 

All rights reserved 






\'\ 



CorvRiCHT, 1913, 
By THF, MAOMll.I.AN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotype^. Published May, 1913. Reprinted 
March, June, 1914: M.iy, 1915; January, July, November, 1916. 



Nortoooti ^rtfls 

J. 8. Oushlnp Oo. — lioiwiok * Smith Co. 

NorwtuHi, Ms:).')., V'.S.A. 



./ 



6' 



MY WIFE 



PREFACE 

It is the purpose of this book to set forth in a simple and 
imtechnical way some of the hygienic requirements of school 
life, and to suggest, whenever it seems necessary, how these 
requirements may be put into practice. No attempt has been 
made to treat any phase of the subject exhaustively. The 
purpose has been to select the most important topics, and to 
deal with them in a manner as simple as is consistent with the 
truth. It has not been written for the specialist in school 
hygiene, but for busy teachers, and the author hopes that 
it will do some small service in convincing them of the great 
importance of making school Hfe wholesome and healthful, 
and of instructing the children, directly and indirectly, in 
matters relating to hygienic living in school and at home. 



vii 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Introductory: The Meaning of Hygiene and its Relation 

TO Education i 



CHAPTER II 



-^7 



Play and Playgrounds 6 

CHAPTER III 

Location and Construction of School Buildings ... 20 

CHAPTER IV 
y Lighting of Schoolhouses 53 

CHAPTER V 
School Desks 82 

CHAPTER VI 
,/ School Baths 98 

CHAPTER VII 

Convenient and Sanitary Water Supply for School 

Buildings 103 

CHAPTER VIII 
i/DRiNKiNG Cups and Drinking Fountains 109 



X 



Contents 



CHAPTER IX 

PAGB 

Toilets for Schools ii8 



CHAPTER X 
The Need of Pure Air 132 

CHAPTER XI 
Ventilation .... 141 



CHAPTER XII 
J Open-air Schools 173 

CHAPTER XIII 
Heating of Schoolrooms 181 

^^-"-"^ CHAPTER XIV 
Humidity in the Schoolroom 194 



, CHAPTER XV 

Eye Defects and School Conditions ..... 221 



CHAPTER XVI 
The Hearing of School Children ..... 247 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Teeth of School Children 250 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Stuttering 264 



Contents xi 

CHAPTER XIX 

PAGE 

y Fatigue . o ......... . 274 

CHAPTER XX 
J Hygiene of Instruction 285 

CHAPTER XXI 
The Care of Exceptional Children . . . . . 302 

CHAPTER XXII 
Medical Inspection of School Children . . . • 313 

CHAPTER XXIII 
Hygiene of School Utensils and Books ..... 336 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Cleaning Schoqlrooms 344 

CHAPTER XXV 
Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor . . . 348 

CHAPTER XXVI 
Disinfectants . •...*.... 359 



SCHOOL HYGIENE 

CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 

The Meaning of Hygiene and its Relation to Education 

The Science, Hygiene. — Hygiene is a term applied to that 
organized body of facts relating to the preservation of health. 
School Hygiene is the branch of this science which has to do 
with the conservation and development of the health of school 
children. 

It is the business of teachers to guard and promote the 
health of the children committed to their care during school 
hours, as well as to instruct them in the various branches of 
a school curriculum. Teachers must know what constitute 
healthful school conditions in order to be able to manage and 
to direct the children accordingly. 

Importance of Health and Physical Vigor. — No amount 
of mental acumen can take the place of physical vigor. The 
happiness and final usefulness of the individual is Kmited by 
his abihty to perform the duties of Hfe energetically and joy- 
ously. There can be no true and lasting culture unless it is 
founded upon the basis of a strong, well-balanced body and 
vigorous health. That intangible complex popularly known 
as character depends upon both mind and body. The safest 
and surest way to start a child on the road to success and use- 
fulness is to develop his body properly and to furnish him with 
every opportunity and condition for good health and a com- 
plete, well-rounded physical growth. There are thousands 
of children in our schools to-day who would be far better con- 



2 School Hygiene 

ditioned for normal development if they were allowed to learn 
through play, and to develop their bodies through the exercise 
and freedom that nature so strenuously demands. Health 
is frequently confirmed or destroyed in the first years of Hfe. 
The results of experiments with open-air schools prove beyond 
doubt that abundant fresh air is vital to the needs of children, 
while experiments with half-day sessions in schools, followed 
or preceded by a half day of open-air work and play, prove that 
for many children much time is now wasted in full-time 
schools, and their normal development is retarded. Our 
schools are still cursed with the doctrine that teaches people 
to neglect their bodies and even to mortify the flesh, in order 
to gain spiritual control and to subdue their passions. It 
would be a great blessing if the Greek ideal of physical and 
spiritual unity could be reestabhshed in the world, and the 
dogma of educational disconnectedness banished forever. 

The School and Health. — The school exists not only for 
the welfare of each child in attendance, but also for the welfare 
of the state and the nation. We hear much in these days 
about conservation of national resources, but we generally 
have in mind those material things that nature has lavished 
upon us, such as fertile soil, forests of valuable timber, and 
mineral deposits of great value. These are very important 
considerations, but conservation means more than this. When 
applied to human Hfe in its broadest sense, it means the in- 
teUigent care of the health and vigor of our people, intel- 
lectually, physically, and morally. The greatest asset of an 
individual, as well as of the state, is trained intelligence, con- 
trolled by high moral ideals, and made effective and sane 
through vigorous physical powers. School life must there- 
fore be organized and directed to strengthen and conserve 
these powers, else the highest interests of all cannot be pro- 
tected and maintained. The school hfe of children furnishes 
the best social opportunity for the development of this highest 
sort of conservation. The health and vigor of the people of 



Introdtictory 3 

any nation is the only firm foundation upon which moral, 
intellectual, and spiritual supremacy can be built ; and this 
fact must become more and. more significant to the teachers of 
this land, else our intellectual progress will cease and moral 
delinquency will increase at a rapid rate. 

Practically all teachers are striving with one accord and with 
commendable energy to increase the intellectual vigor of our 
people ; but few give equal thought to the duty of conserving 
the health of the children, and fewer still recognize the great 
importance of increasing the physical stamina of the coming 
generations. Most teachers are satisfied if lessons are learned 
and examinations are passed. The time has gone by in this 
country when schools should exist merely for intellectual 
drill, and the conning of lessons. The time has come to give 
larger attention to physical well-being and normal physical 
development. 

Divisions of Hygiene. — School hygiene may be roughly 
divided into two main divisions. One division has to do with 
the physical environment of the child during his school Hfe ; 
the other takes cognizance of the laws of mental hygiene as 
illustrated by the proper adjustment of the subjects of the 
curriculum to the mental powers and needs of the children. 
It is wrong to compel the children to congregate in a school- 
house for the sake of acquiring an education, and then to 
neglect to furnish them with sufficient pure air, good light, 
comfortable seats, and proper materials with which to work. 
It is Hkewise culpable to furnish them with teachers either 
ignorant or neglectful of the laws of mental economy, as 
illustrated in the most wholesome and the most effective order 
of mental discipHne. A teacher who irritates and balks the 
mind in its natural desire to acquire that which it can normally 
assimilate, is thoughtlessly fostering a distaste for learning 
that cannot help influencing the whole mental hfe of the 
individual. A boy who acquires a dislike for his studies is 
rarely able to command, later in life, that mental persistency 



4 School Hygiene 

that will give him mastery over the problems of life as he meets 
them. The mind may be warped as well as the spinal column. 
The questions relating to fatigue, and maladjustments of 
subject matter to mental growth and physical capabilities, 
are comparatively new questions, but their novelty does not 
lessen their importance. 

Educating the Community through the School. — Granted 
that teachers know the value of play, of hygienic schoolrooms, 
of the methods of handling all branches of the curriculum so as 
to create an appetite for learning, it still remains true that the 
people as a whole are ignorantly demanding unnatural lives 
for their children. A teacher's duty must therefore include 
the teaching of sound doctrines of health to her pupils. In- 
directly, at least, the homes of the people should be influenced 
so that sanitary and wholesome living will acquire a larger 
and larger significance. 

The School and the Home. — The school cannot and should 
not take the place of the home, but it will surely fail of its 
mission if it does not become an important factor in the making 
of the home. If every rural school-teacher could and would 
set to work, wisely and courageously, to make the school 
environment completely wholesome and pure, and to teach the 
children the facts relating to personal and community hygiene, 
country Hfe would soon make rapid strides toward health and 
salutary living. The same thing, with such modifications as 
city life demands, could be said with equal cogency to teachers 
in the city. 

TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. What in general are the relations of good health to the develop- 
ment and maintenance of good character ? 

2. What are the elements that have entered into the decline and 
downfall of nations ? 

3. What can teachers do to aid in the development of the doctrine 
of eugenics (the science of being well born) ? 



Introductory 5 

4. What are the fundamental requisites for the development of self- 
control ? 

5. What relation, if any, does good health and normal physical de- 
velopment bear to crime and criminality in general ? 

6. It has been said that a sane mind necessitates a sound body. Do 
the studies of insanity and degeneracy prove this to be true ? Carefully 
formulate the reasons for your conclusions. 

7. Has illness in your own case influenced in any definite way, tem- 
porarily or permanently, your own character ? 

8. Does bad air, fatigue, or loss of sleep influence the behavior of 
your pupils ? Why ? 

9. What resvflts have been observed in the physical and mental prog- 
ress of children after treatment for hookworm disease ? Anaemia ? 
Adenoids ? 

10. Is it very often true that the best way to develop the mental and 
moral natures of dull children is first to see that their health and physical 
powers are put into good condition ? Why ? 

11. Did the Greeks waste the children's time and delay their mental 
and moral growth by using practically half of the school day for games 
and physical exercises ? Give good reasons for your answer. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Allen, W. H. Civics and Health. Boston, 1909. 411 pp., iUus. 
American Academy op Medicine. Conservation of School Children. 

Papers and Discussions of Conference at Lehigh University, April 

3 and 4, 1912. Easton, Pa., 1912. 293 pp. 
BuRGERSTEiN, L. Some Remarks on the Relation of Mind and Body. 

Pedagogical Seminary, v. 17, pp. 29-39. 
Clouston, T. S. The Hygiene of Mind. London, 1911. 
Dukes, C. Health at School considered in its Mental, Moral, and Physical 

Aspects. London, 1894. 498 pp. 
Fisher, H. W. Making Life Worth While. New York, 1910. 318 pp. 
KuTCHiNSON, Woods. We and Our Children. New York, 1911. 371pp. 
Lincoln, D. F. Sanity of Mind. New York, 1900. 177 pp. 



CHAPTER II 
PLAY AND PLAYGROUNDS 

The Play Instinct. — Can you not remember your keen 
desire for play during childhood? Whence came the ex- 
quisite pleasure of playing dolls with your girl friends, of 
skipping the rope, of playing ball, of playing hide and seek, 
and the many other games so dear to the heart of child- 
hood ? It is a general rule that where natural delight and joy 
issue from a given human activity, such activity ministers 
to the needs of human life. Naturally this rule, as all others, 
is subject to misuse and erroneous interpretation. Bad 
habits in time become enjoyable, but usually nature rebels 
at the start, and she always does at the last. 

The instinct for play is one of the fundamental demands 
of child life, because it is one of Nature's most effective methods 
of prompting the child to react to his environment, both phys- 
ical and social. Suppose that we could find a normal child 
devoid of this instinct, so that all that he learned must be 
taught him directly by others. How long would it take you 
to teach him how to run, how to judge distance, how to speak, 
how to throw a ball, or how to cooperate with his fellows? 
Teachers will agree that there is no more difficult task than 
the attempt to teach a child to do a thing for which he has no 
desire. The play spirit in early years is preeminently the 
spirit of learning, and the delight resulting from play is Na- 
ture's remuneration and incentive. Day after day, prompted 
by the love of fun and the joy of liberating his surplus energy, 
the child strives on his own initiative to do the things that he 
needs to learn. He multiplies his experience a thousand fold 
in his early years by reason of the contacts that play induces. 

6 







52 ^ 



Play and Playgrounds 7 

Play and Infancy. — All of the higher animals have a more 
or less prolonged period in their lives when the play instinct 
is dominant. This period always corresponds to the stage in 
their development when the education that each needs for 
his Hfe's work is most readily and fundamentally acquired. 
At first the kitten is practically blind, and his muscular life 
is imperfectly developed and uncoordinated. At this stage 
of his growth there is no attempt at play. Observe how much 
he behaves hke an old decrepit cat. But in a comparatively 
short time the play instinct is dominant, and he is then all for 
play. He learns how to hide, how to jump, how to defend him- 
self with tooth and claw, how to crouch, how to close stealthily 
on his prey, and how to be as quick as a well-developed 
cat ought to be. Change your terms so as to make the activi- 
ties correspond to the demands of human life, and you may 
substitute the word boy or girl for kitten. But while the play 
life of the kitten is intense, comparatively speaking, it is of 
short duration. What the cat learns for his hfe's business he 
must learn quickly, for infancy with him passes rapidly ; he 
will be a full-grown cat in one year. And now we come to a 
fundamental fact, and one of tremendous significance in all 
animal life. The higher in the scale of animal life, the longer is 
the relative period of infancy. Consequently the higher ani- 
mals have a longer period in which to acquire their education, 
and therefore a longer period in which play is the dominating 
activity. In discussing this question. Professor Groos, in his 
interesting book on the Play of Man, says, " Infancy is for 
play." In this statement he implies that education in in- 
fancy is acquired largely through an actuating impulse to 
learn through play. Of course to the child the satisfaction of 
this instinct is all the excuse that he requires to warrant his 
activities. He is unconscious of the value of play, and thus 
he develops his powers without knowing it. To him play is 
that kind of work that is suited to the desires of childish 
ideals and childish impulses. 



8 School Hygiene 

Physical Development through Play. — If one were to ask 
in what particulars physical education is acquired through 
play, one would need to study and analyze a thousand games 
as Dr. Johnson has done, in order to see what varied demands 
games make on mind and muscle. A few illustrations must 
suffice here. If we take the game of baseball as a typical 
boys' game, it is easy to see in it certain physical demands. 
It requires a great deal of running, but only for short distances. 
Thus the larger muscles of the lower limbs and the nervous 
centers controlling them get abundant exercise without undue 
fatigue. It requires much throwing of the ball, and this 
brings into action the fundamental muscles of the arm and 
shoulder, and all the nerve centers controlling them. Both 
hands are used in batting and catching, and the eyes are con- 
stantly judging distances, the direction that the ball is taking, 
and the rapidity with which it is traveling. Such vigorous 
activity naturally increases the circulation of the blood and 
gives the heart its needed strength through exercise. Deep 
breathing is demanded and the lung capacity expands. The 
large muscles of the trunk are strengthened in batting, stoop- 
ing, and swerving, and, in short, the whole fundamental mus- 
cular system and the brain centers in control are brought into 
normal activity. Best of all, the muscles and centers thus 
trained are just those upon which life's demands fall most 
heavily, and hence a fundamental preparation for useful 
activity is taking place. 

Gymnastic Exercises and Play Contrasted. — Many sys- 
tems of gymnastics fail for normal individuals, because they 
develop some parts of the body out of proportion to the legit- 
imate needs of life. Certain series of exercises are devised, 
many of which demand the development of muscles beyond 
the relative usefulness of those muscles to real life. Because 
gymnastic drills or exercises will make certain muscles stand 
out in an unnatural, or at least in an unusual, way, it is evident 
that such exercises are not duly coordinated with natural needs. 




ffl 



O 0) 



1- ^ 



Play and Playgrounds g 

If, for example, certain games throw such large demands on 
the heart that it develops out of proportion to the normal 
needs of everyday life, it is evident that such games may, if 
continued for a season, do far more harm than good. A 
heart so developed is a menace to health when these particular 
games are dropped and milder games or ordinary labor takes 
their place. Degeneration of the heart may then set in, and 
serious complications may ensue. This is one reason why 
long-distance runners and long-term football players fre- 
quently die in later life from heart failure. But it is truly 
wonderful how the nonprofessionalized games, those that are 
dearest to a boy's heart, minister to an all-round physical 
development consonant with the demands of what we may 
term normal activity and normal living. There are games, 
such as marbles and tops, which demand skillful coordination 
of the accessory muscles of hand and eye. Others lead to 
constructive ability, the making of kites, wagons, or bows 
and arrows ; still others, such as playing soldier and riding 
stick horses, develop poise and balance. These are only sug- 
gestions of the tremendous educational effectiveness of games. 

The Value of Studying Games. — No better advice could 
be given to a teacher who is seeking more opportunity for 
play for her pupils than this : select a half dozen of the most 
corhmon games that boys delight in playing, study what the 
boys must learn to do to play them well, and then ask yourself 
the questions, " Are these powers in need of development ? 
and are they being trained properly for useful labor in the 
common demands of life ? " Of course no fine-spun theories 
of education ought to emerge from such a study, but a new 
and fundamental point of view may be reached, and games 
may be lifted out of the region of things to be endured, into 
the realm of educational necessities. 

The Socializing Function of Games. — Thus far, our con- 
sideration of games has had to do with the physical develop- 
ment of the individual ; but games are sociaUzing agencies of 



lo School Hygiene 

superlative importance. Baseball requires teamwork, and 
demands cooperation and subordination. Each player is 
responsible for a share in the final success or failure of the 
" team." Each must be ready, therefore, to respond, must 
watch the whole game, judge of the strength or weakness of 
each member, and learn to abide by a decision even though, in 
the heat of excitement, a mistake has been made. No more 
democratic game could be devised than baseball, for he is the 
hero, whether rich or poor, who can hit the hardest, run the 
fastest, and catch the ball most surely. Here, even the boy 
who is dull in his lessons may have his chance to shine, may 
save the game, and may win that recognition from his fellows 
that is dear to all boys. It is fatal to ambition and disastrous 
to any life to be able to surpass in nothing. The more our 
boys learn to play together, the more surely will they be able 
to work together. 

Girls' Games. — But the girls like to play, and they need 
to play as well as the boys. It is characteristic of most educa- 
tional hterature, however, to illustrate points by referring to 
boys and their doings. This show of partiality is doubtless 
due to the fact that it is only in recent times, and especially in 
our country, that girls have had anything like an equal chance 
with the boys. Girls' games reveal girl nature just as clearly 
as boys' games reveal boy nature. Girls romp and squeal, 
they jump the rope, play at housekeeping, play with dolls, put 
on long dresses and play at being ladies, and, in general, do not 
care for the more violent games of running or jumping. Hop- 
scotch has, however, been a girls' game since the days of Caesar, 
and probably long before. Dolls have been found in the 
excavations of the oldest cities of the world, and some form of 
" Ring around Rosy " is as old as civilization. Some features 
of girls' games deserve more careful study and discussion 
than may be entered upon here. Suffice it to say that nature 
here again leads unconsciously toward a normal preparation 
for life through the games that the instincts demand. Few 



Play and Playgrounds ii 

girls delight in ball, for their life-needs have not developed 
power of shoulder and arms to succeed in such a game. It is 
clearly Nature's plan that a woman should not be as strong 
of arm and shoulder as a man, and any game or labor that 
would impose this unnecessary strength is foreign to the needs 
of the hfe of women. Even if women have been the burden 
carriers of the unciviHzed tribes, it has been an imposition 
forced upon them by those with stronger arms. Girls' games 
are more individualistic than boys', and yet they, in the main, 
demand a social setting. "It is lots more fun " to play 
housekeeping where neighbors are accessible, and where much 
visiting and comparison of domestic equipments are possible, 
than otherwise. It brings much keener delight to a girl who 
puts on a long skirt, in play, if her display can be made in the 
presence of her companions. It would rob the making of 
dolls' dresses of its chief delight, were there no competition 
and comparisons in sight. Even the more vigorous games of 
basket ball and tennis, which some girls enjoy, and from which 
much physical education may come, derive a large part of 
their pleasure from the consciousness of the uniforms or suits 
usually worn in these contests. However, this suggestion 
must not be carried too far. Well-developed, vigorous girls, 
those whose superabundant energies demand release, often 
get the same kind of physical joy from vigorous exercise as 
boys, and it would certainly be of great advantage to our girls 
if this phase of their lives received more attention and consid- 
eration. It required a great deal of self-denial on the part 
of the Athenians, who contended that women were most 
womanly when infrequently seen and less frequently heard, to 
declare that the women of their Spartan rivals were more 
beautiful than Athenian women, especially since they knew 
that the Spartan maidens had a freedom that Athens persist- 
ently denied her maidens. The Spartans argued that if strong, 
vigorous children give the only true promise for continued 
Spartan supremacy, the mothers of such children must be 



12 School Hygiene 

physically strong and robust. Hence, they trained their 
girls to take active interest in running, wrestling, swimming, 
and other such vigorous sports. Their girls grew strong and 
beautiful as the result of such freedom and physical exertion. 
It gave them courage, and despite the harsh military discipline 
of Sparta, they did not lose their motherly instinct or the 
tenderness associated with it. They were not fastidious, nor 
timid, nor effeminate in the weaker sense of this word. They 
were strong of heart and limb, but they were none the less 
devoted wives and mothers in so far as the stern laws of the 
state permitted. The freedom granted American girls to 
play and to be in the open air is much in our favor and will 
count as a valuable element in the preservation and strength- 
ening of the stamina of our people. 

The Moral Significance of Play. — Any sympathetic young 
man, with a modicum of good sense and ability to handle 
boys, can break up a " city gang " in a week if you will give 
him a chance at these boys with a real playground. They 
will prefer to don a baseball suit and play ball rather than to 
steal, fight, and torment people. It will take skill and patience 
at first, for such boys have no play lore ; they will be extremely 
awkward and each will want to have things go to suit him. 
But, after all, there is nothing so satisfying to vigorous boy 
life as play, and nothing will enforce better habits if real 
success is to be attained. Baseball managers have found 
that immoral habits of any kind are very costly, and that even 
a fit of temper will often weaken a man's skill for a day or two. 
Recently, the authorities of one of our state's prisons has dis- 
covered that with the introduction of baseball into the daily 
round of prison life, rules are more readily obeyed, and prison 
discipline is rendered far easier and safer. 

Four years ago, in a paper prepared for the Second Annual 
Congress of the Playground Association of America held in 
New York City, Mr. Allen Burns successfully maintained the 
thesis that, " The presence of parks and playgrounds in a 




Fig. 3. — A playground furnished by a manufacturing establishment for the children 
of its employees. An expression of a new sort of civic righteousness. (Courtesy 
Playground Association of America.) 




Fig. 4. — Learning to manage themselves without a " boss." 
Association of America.) 



(Courtesy Playground 



Play and Playgrounds 13 

neighborhood is coincident with a decrease in the number of 
cases of juvenile delinquency, and with an increase in the 
proportion of cases successfully cared for by the courts." 
His arguments and conclusions were based on facts gathered 
in Chicago in congested districts. In summing up his con- 
clusion with reference to small parks, such as those on the 
South Side of Chicago, he declared, " A small park can be 
expected to be coincident with a decrease of delinquency, 
within a radius of one half mile, of 28.5 per cent, conditions of 
the neighborhood in other respects remaining the same. To 
provide a probation district with adequate play facilities is 
coincident with a reduction in delinquency of from 28 per 
cent to 70 per cent, or 44 per cent as an average." Put in a 
different way, this means that nearly half of the meanness 
punishable by the courts would cease if bad boys had a good 
playground within half a mile of their homes and they were 
allowed the privilege of using it. What would happen if 
there were playgrounds within two blocks of their homes? 
We can only conjecture. If boys can chase each other in a 
real game, they are not Hkely to throw stones at a peddler 
in order to get him to chase them. If a boy learns that smok- 
ing cigarettes will make it impossible for him to run well in 
foot races, or to throw a curved ball successfully, he will be the 
more wilHng on this account to stop this evil habit, provided, 
of course, that he has had an opportunity to experience the 
delightful tang of these games. If a boy grows up without a 
chance to play games, he will lose his desire to do so, and 
then his superabundant energy is likely to lead to immoral 
excesses. 

The Danger due to Degeneracy. — There are some lessons 
in biology that everybody ought to know, because they have 
to do with human life in every stage of its existence and with 
every class of persons. The germ of human Hfe is continuous 
and is modifiable through experience, if this word may be 
used in its broadest sense. In other words, the child repre- 



14 School Hygiene 

sents one stage in life, with the modifications that the germinal 
cells have undergone directly or indirectly from the first. 
This life principle may increase in vigor, or it may degenerate. 
If a degenerate cell from a weakling father is nourished by a 
degenerate mother, the resultant weak and degenerate child 
is a natural product. Teachers must come to see that they 
are not simply dealing with individual children for their 
own sakes, but they must have in mind future generations. 
Degeneration does not imply visible bodily infirmities alone, 
but also loss of vigor, and increased instability of the nervous 
system. The great importance of eugenics (the science of 
being well born) is beginning to appeal to the world with a 
new emphasis, and the general truth that it is of tremendous 
significance to be born of good stock and of virile parents 
means more to-day than ever before. 

Along with this general truth, merely suggested, goes an- 
other of at least equal importance. The individual life is 
capable of increasing its inherited strength or weakness. For 
a child who is so unfortunate as to be born of weakhngs 
much may be done to offset in a measure such natal influences. 
True, it may take generations to revivify his descendants, but 
to make no attempt to reform such conditions would at once 
mark the beginning of a steadily increasing degeneracy. Nor- 
mal free play, coupled with such gymnastic exercises as in- 
dividual children may need, looks toward the preservation of 
health and sanity, and that reinvigoration of human society 
dependent on good health, strong bodies, and virility. 

The Need of Larger Playgrounds. — The above brief sug- 
gestions have not in the least overestimated nor exaggerated 
the great educational values to be derived from play. But 
the questions that will arise in the minds of all thoughtful 
teachers, especially those in cities, are these : Why do we 
not make more of this powerful self-initiation on the part of 
the children ? Why do we not furnish the children with ade- 
quate playgrounds, adequate time to play ? and why do we not 



Play and Playgrounds 15 

utilize the play impulse to a greater degree in teaching them 
the ordinary branches listed in the course of study ? No one 
can answer these questions with complete satisfaction; but 
there are certain reasons that may be understood and stated 
simply. In the first place, it is much easier to manage and 
direct a class of children seated in a schoolroom than it would 
be to manage them where freedom is allowed. It is practically 
impossible for one teacher to handle more than a third as many 
children where the play spirit enters into the work as teachers 
are required to manage and teach in the ordinary way. Hence, 
we are sacrificing the more natural method of deahng with 
them for the sake of economy. In the next place, the teach- 
er's interest Hes chiefly in intellectual short cuts to intellectual 
programs. In other words, teachers are more interested in 
the adult point of view than in the child point of view. This 
is a natural result of learning and of adult Hfe. It is only 
the rare teacher who can be a scholar and at the same 
time retain that sympathetic attitude toward childhood's 
desires and needs, that is essential for the greatest success in 
teaching primary or elementary classes. Jacotot, the eminent 
French educational reformer, saw this fact clearly, and went 
so far as to say that it would be better for children to have 
young unlearned teachers, for then these could make progress 
together with the children, and would consequently more 
nearly meet the desires of their pupils and appreciate their 
point of view, than older and more scholarly teachers. 

In the third place, we have failed to make use of the play 
spirit as we should, because of the congregation of the people 
into large cities. There land is expensive, and here again 
economy of a false sort sacrifices the needs of childhood for 
the sake of adult ideals and modem luxury. Not since the 
days of the ancient Greeks have children in cities been de- 
cently cared for in this respect. And even in the country, 
were it not for the outdoor hfe that children naturally lead, 
there would be little relative difference. I have just made a 



i6 School Hygiene 

survey of more than twelve hundred rural schools in nineteen 
different states, and have found that less than 15 per cent of 
them are furnished with playgrounds large enough to enable 
the children to play with any degree of freedom and vigor. It 
is a national habit, fixed through three hundred years or more, 
to neglect to supply adequate playgrounds for our school 
children ; and this is true even in the country where land is 
cheap, as well as in cities where land is so expensive. No 
one can justify this policy of neglect, and no one can explain 
it save through the ignorance or avarice of older people. 

Failure to provide for Playgrounds. — There was a time in 
our earlier history when a large percentage of our people lived 
in rural homes. Such cities as then existed were not congested, 
and there were open spaces and " commons " at no great dis- 
tance from the children. The villages and towns were not 
lacking in opportunity for outdoor games, both in winter and 
in summer. Besides, the open country was close at hand, 
where hunting, fishing, and playing Indian were common 
sports. Conditions have greatly changed. No city in this 
country has a tithe of the playgrounds that it should have, 
despite recent strenuous efforts in this direction on the part 
of a few of the great cities. The number of children in one 
block in parts of large cities is large enough to require ten acres 
of ground for free, unobstructed play. And these are the 
children most in need of play. It is manifestly impossible to 
make a great modern city a suitable, or even a permissible, 
place in which to rear children, especially the children of the 
poor. Despite all that has been done, — and some of our 
cities have done wonderful things to ameliorate conditions, — 
any one who knows the real situation knows that the task to 
establish ample playgrounds within our cities is altogether 
hopeless. If our cities continue to grow at the rate at which 
they are now growing, what has been done will count for even 
less than it does at present. 

City Schools removed to the Country. — I see only one ray 



Play and Playgrounds 17 

of hope for the children of great cities. Either this instinct 
for play must be starved, or else our school buildings must be 
removed from the cities to the adjacent open country where 
playgrounds may be had, and the children daily transported 
to and from school. Here they would be free from the noise, 
dirt, and danger of a great city for the school day. Here, they 
could breathe fresh air, have a chance to play, come in con- 
tact with grass, and flowers, and trees, and their horizon would 
not be limited by brick walls and narrow streets. This plan 
may seem visionary, but it must come, for we dare not permit 
the children to develop tendencies toward anarchy and 
rebellion. 

Playgrounds in the Country. — Strange to say, the district 
schools in the open country have, even with inexpensive land 
at hand, gone on in the same way. In earlier days, as already 
suggested, it was easy to find an available playground near 
the school building, and no one would object to its use. But 
now the " No trespassing " sign is almost omnipresent both 
in city and country, and it is very difficult to find in the country 
a worthy playground to which the children may have unstinted 
access. One of the greatest needs of the country school, 
especially those in places where several districts have con- 
sohdated in order to secure better classification and better 
teaching, is just this one of larger grounds. Those boys who 
have left school to work on the farm, as well as those who are 
still in school, need opportunity for games with their fellows. 
There is no other opportunity offered in country life that may 
be made so effective in socializing, unifying and satisfying the 
spirit of boyhood, as vigorous play with his fellows. Each 
playground should provide room for a baseball diamond of 
regulation size. Schoolhouses and school grounds are the 
common possessions of the cottimunity as a whole, and their 
use should not be limited to those who attend school. All the 
boys and men in the neighborhood ought to feel that they 
have a right to use the school grounds, and even the school- 



1 8 School Hygiene 

house in any legitimate public way when school is not in ses- 
sion. Can you think of anything that would do more toward 
breaking up the habit of going to town every Saturday than 
a match game on the school grounds between rival neighbor- 
hood teams? Any one who has imagination and faith in 
boy life can fill in the outlines here suggested for making coun- 
try life more enjoyable and satisfying to the lads whose safety 
and usefulness consist largely in staying on the farm. 

Work and Play. — The emphasis thus placed on the value 
of play and playgrounds must not be so construed as to lead to 
the assumption that play can take the place of work. Nothing 
can be farther from the truth. Teachers and parents who do 
not teach the children under their control to work diligently, 
even to the point of normal fatigue, are doing them a serious 
injury. When work and play are properly proportioned, 
each goes better and each brings more joy. Children can 
play too much and work too little ; or work too much and 
play too Httle. Wise guidance is necessary in reaching that 
golden mean where the spirit responds with readiness to the 
demands of labor, and with equal delight to the opportunities 
for play. After play there should always follow a period of 
quiet intense work of a tranquilizing sort. Self-control and 
poise are much more easily acquired under such conditions 
than at a time when the body is restless with a superabundant 
supply of energy. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Make a careful study of the educational value ot the games that 
your pupils like to play, and then determine, if possible, why these games 
have persisted so long and are the source of so much perennial delight. 

2. Why do city children need so much supervision in their games ? 

3. Determine if you can why, in general, free games in the open air 
are so much preferred by children to directed exercises in gymnasiums. 

4. What is the effect on the normal character of both girls and boys 
who have been given no chance and no opportunities for playing with 
other children ? 



Play and Playgrounds 19 

5. How may the problem of larger playgrounds for city children be 
most easily and intelligently solved ? 

6. Study the relation of juvenile crime to the facilities and oppor- 
tunities for wholesome play in the cities. 

7. What do you think of the moral influence on our young men, 
and even on the older ones, of what has been termed our national game, 
baseball ? 

8. How far should the churches and other religious and moral insti- 
tutions cooperate with educational workers to secure playgrounds and 
opportimity for play to all normal children ? 

9. How may organized play and recreation centers be provided in 
rural districts ? 

10. Why have so many kinds of games been developed by the children, 
and why do they play them in more or less regular order ? 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Ayers, L. p. Statistics of Playgrounds in the Hundred Largest Cities in 
the United States. Proc. of Playground Assoc, of America. 1908. 
PP- 372-386. 

Breckinridge, S., and Abbot, E. The Delinquent Child and the Home, 
Chap. 9. New York, 191 2. 343 pp. 

Curtis, H. S. The Growth, Present Extent, and Prospects of the Play- 
ground Movement in America. Pedagogical Seminary, v. 16, pp. 
344-360. 

Galbraith, Anna M. Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for 
Women. Philadelphia, 191 1. 371 pp., illus. 

Groos, Karl. Play of Animals. New York, 1898. 341pp. 

Groos, Karl. Play of Man. New York, 1901. 412 pp. 

GuLiCK, L. H. The Healthful A rt of Dancing. New York, 1 9 10. 273 pp. 

Harris, W. T. Recess. U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Infor- 
mation. 1884. pp. 59-66. 

Hill, Lucile E. (Editor). Athletics and Out-of-door Sports for Women. 
1903- 339 PP-, iUus. 

Johnson, G. E. Education by Plays and Games. New York, 1907. 
234 pp., illus. 

Leland, a. L. and L. H. Playground Technique and Playcraft, Vol. I. 
1909. 284 pp. 

Mahaffy, J. P. Old Greek Education. 1882. 143 pp. 

Mero, E. B. American Playgrounds. Boston, 1908. 270 pp., illus. 

Sargent, Dudley A. Physical Education. Boston, 1906. 311 pp. 



CHAPTER III 

LOCATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL 
BUILDINGS 

Location of School Buildings. — In the previous chapter, 
emphasis was placed on the need and value of playgrounds, 
and it was proved that no location should be selected for a 
school building where ample facilities for play could not be 
furnished. But there are many other considerations of im- 
portance that should be taken into account before selecting 
a site for a school building, for it must be held in mind con- 
stantly that after a school building has once been constructed 
oti a given piece of ground, it is not likely that any change will 
be made for many years to come. Hence, a great many diffi- 
culties may be avoided by being especially careful in the matter 
of location. 

Location of the Building with Reference to the Conven- 
ience of the Children to be Served. — Other things equal, it 
is of course important that a school building should be located 
so as to be most convenient to all the children in the district, 
whether this be in town or in the country. If the popula- 
tion were equally distributed, land values the same, and 
hygienic conditions favorable, naturally the center of the dis- 
trict would be the logical place for the location of the building. 
But it rarely happens that other things are equal, and that the 
center of the district is the best place for its location. In 
country districts it may happen that the center of a school 
district is not the center of population, and tliis may necessi- 
tate the selection of a site more convenient to all concerned. 
In cities, this point is of less importance because the distance 
to be traversed is not so great. Country people are very 
jealous with regard to the matter of the location of their 
schools, and will frequently insist on having a building placed 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 21 



in the center of the district, even if that point is altogether 
unfit for a school site. School trustees and teachers, as well 
as county superintendents, have probably had more trouble 
in settling disputes on this question of location than on any 
other connected with the organization and management of 







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Fig. 5. — A primitive schoolhouse one hundred and twenty-five miles from a railroad in 
the mountains of California. The teacher is a well-trained college graduate. If 
boys had a chance to select between such a school, even though poorly lighted, but 
so beautifully situated, and one in a " canon " of Chicago, can you doubt which they 
would choose, or which would be the more wholesome? 

country schools. There are certain general facts with regard 
to the location of a school building that ought to be con- 
sidered, and which will apply, in the main, both in the case 
of country and of city schools. 

Soils. — The importance of selecting the proper kind of soil 
upon which to construct a school building is greater than is 
commonly supposed. A soil that has been contaminated with 



2 2 School Hygiene 

the intermixture of much decomposing animal and vegetable 
matter is not a safe location either for a dwelling house or for a 
schoolhouse. The air, because of the tremendous pressure 
exerted on it, sinks into the ground to the depth of many feet. 
The bacteria within the soil will, in the presence of oxygen, 
moisture, and warmth, attack the animal and vegetable 
matter therein found, and, as a result, release a great deal of 
carbon dioxide and other noxious gases. Hence, it happens 
that the ground air is much more impure than the air above 
ground, and this impurity increases with the amount of de- 
caying matter in the soil. If, therefore, a schoolhouse is con- 
structed on such soil, the air about the schoolhouse will be- 
come more or less impure as a result of the outflow of this 
ground air. The earth is breathing, as it were, for during the 
day the air above ground, especially in warm weather, is at 
a higher temperature than that beneath the soil, while at 
night or in cold weather the opposite is true; hence, the 
warmer air in the ground, being lighter, will rise at night, 
and the cold air from the outside will take its place. This 
accounts, in large part, for the cellar-like odor often found in 
basements and in rooms on the ground floor when the building 
is opened in the morning. While this noxious air arising from 
the ground does not have a very large influence upon the at- 
mosphere of the school during the day, it may have and does 
have at times an influence sufficiently great to warrant us in 
guarding against it. A porous soil that has not been con- 
taminated will naturally permit the air to enter into it more 
deeply, and will be kept pure much more easily than a soil 
that is not so porous, and hence retains its impurities longer 
and offers more continuous trouble. It not infrequently 
happens that vacant lots in towns and villages hav6 been used 
as dumping grounds for all sorts of refuse, and are later uti- 
lized as sites for dwellings or pubHc buildings. In case it be- 
comes necessary to use such a site for a school building, the 
only safe thing to do is to cart away the contaminated soil 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 23 

and to replace it with pure, sandy or gravelly loam. Such 
soil not only purifies itself quickly, but permits the moisture 
to sink away rapidly, and hence offers a better site for play- 
grounds, gardening, and agricultural work. 

This ground air is not only troublesome from the point of view 
of the impurities that it carries, but it may be saturated with 
moisture gathered from the ground, and if it is permitted to 
rise into the building, especially at night, it will cause the 
blackboards to sweat, will mar the furniture, warp the floors, 
cause the wood in the building to decay, and will introduce 
various other unhygienic conditions. In general, the moisture 
introduced through the ground air is a much more serious con- 
sideration than the deleterious gases introduced into the school- 
room. It is important, therefore, to select a school location 
with good, permeable soil which has not been contaminated in 
any way, and which will render the playground more accessible 
and usable. 

The Drainage of School Grounds. — A school site should 
be higher than the contiguous ground about it, in order to 
avoid surface drainage toward it. This does not mean that 
school buildings should be placed on a hill, to be swept 
by cold winds, or removed from ground that may be utihzed 
for games, but it is mentioned simply to call attention to the 
fact that any outlying, infected ground, higher than the site 
upon which the school building is to be located, may bring 
toward it, either on the surface or below the ground, foul 
germ-laden water to such an extent as to contaminate the 
ground all about the building and to render it unfit for use. 
It may often happen, however, that, in a flat country, it will not 
be possible to select a site that will meet all these requirements. 
If a level plot of land must be selected, and even one that is 
likely to be damp a part of the year, such a site can be ren- 
dered fit for a school building if proper precautions are taken 
with reference to drainage. In all cases where the soil is in 
danger, from any cause, of becoming water-soaked, and where 



24 School Hygiene 

the water level approaches too near the surface of the ground, 
tile drains should be placed all around the building and, if 
necessary, should be radiated through the playground. This, 
of course, will be possible only where a convenient outlet for 
such drains can be found. If the ordinary earthen tile, such 
as farmers use for draining land, be placed well below the level 
of the footing of the foundation and the basement floor, and 
opened into a safe drainage at a reasonable distance from the 
building, it will bring great reHef from the deleterious ground 
air as well as from the moisture associated with it. This 
drain may be placed five or six feet from the walls of the build- 
ing in order to intercept and carry away any underground 
flow of water toward the building. The water that ordinarily 
enters such drains comes up from the bottom of the ditch, and 
is due to the pressure of the water in the surrounding soil; 
hence, by joining the tiles at the top, and leaving them slightly 
separated at the bottom, the water easily gets into the drain and 
runs away. The best drain tiles are made so as to meet these 
requirements. For the reason just stated, it is not necessary 
to cover the tile with broken stone or porous material. The 
water will find its way into the tile from below. 

Need of Gutters below the Eaves. — It is a serious error to 
allow the rain water from the roof to pour down all around 
the building, or in one or two places through leaders from the 
eaves troughs. The water shed from the roof should not be 
allowed to soak the ground around the building, for this would 
keep the walls damp and cold and altogether insanitary. If 
a drain is placed about the building as indicated, the water 
from the roof may be conducted down to the tile, from the 
eaves troughs and leaders, through cemented sewer tile, and 
carried off along with the underground water. In this case, it 
is necessary to keep the roof clean, or to trap the water before it 
reaches the drain, in order to prevent debris from clogging the 
tiles. If no drain is laid so that the water fine is not kept 
below the basement floor, then the water from the roof should 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 25 

be carried a safe distance from the building in sewer tiles, well 
cemented together, and discharged where it cannot flow back 
toward the house. It is highly advisable wherever the ground 
is likely to be wet to take the precaution of thorough drain- 
ing as suggested. This is not an expensive undertaking, for 
with a little supervision an ordinary workman can lay the 
tiles properly, and a good drain will last longer than the build- 
ing. 

Freedom from Noise and Dust. — In towns and cities, it is 
of very great importance to select a location for school build- 
ings away from all noisy railroads, heavy traffic, and busy 
factories. This fact is becoming more and more important 
as our cities grow in size and the amount of traffic continues 
to increase. To one who has not had experience in school 
work, this may seem a comparatively insignificant matter; 
but it is only necessary for any one who is anxious to give the 
children a proper chance to consider briefly the serious 
troubles growing out of disturbing noises. It may be said 
that children soon get used to these noises and neglect them. 
They may, indeed, become unconscious of a great deal of the 
disturbance that fills the air in a modern town, but their ner- 
vous systems are nevertheless being wrought upon even though 
they are unconscious of it. A school building located beside 
a busy street is an impossible place for the quiet and undis- 
turbed study that proper health conditions demand. There 
are many school buildings in this country so located that a 
recitation cannot be carried on in the proper way. The teach- 
ers and pupils either have to speak in an uncommonly loud 
tone, or else they must wait until a noisy wagon or a rattling 
car passes. As a result of some investigations made several 
years ago, I found that in one school building, half a block 
from a very noisy and busy railway, the children lost at least 
one fifth of the time of the average recitation. It was often 
impossible to carry on the recitation until the train had passed. 
Considered merely from the point of view of economy, that 



26 School Hygiene 

was a very wasteful procedure. But this was not the worst 
feature of it. The children are necessarily disturbed by such 
noises, and the fatigue of the day is much greater than it would 
be if they were not assailed by all this din and rattle about them. 
I was told recently by the principal of one of the great high 
schools of this country, that, because those who were in author- 
ity had located a school building in the busy, noisy part of the 
city, it would become necessary either to condemn one or more 
of the streets passing this building, or to abandon the use of 
the building for school purposes. I want to urge teachers, 
therefore, to do all within their power to influence boards of 
education, and those whose duty it is to locate school buildings, 
to seek out a quiet place, away from railways, noisy factories, 
and busy thoroughfares. 

Tall Buildings and Other Obstructions to Light. — It is not 
only becoming more and more a serious problem to find space 
large enough for school grounds in cities, but it is also coming 
to be almost impossible to find a place where tall buildings do 
not obstruct the fight. The horizon fine even from the second 
story of city school buildings is often so high that on dark 
days artificial fight must be used, and in the rooms on the first 
floor where the smaller children are best accommodated, the 
question of supplying sufficient fight is one of prime importance. 
No rule can be given that would apply in all cases, but it is 
safe to say that under good conditions and in cfimates where 
light is abundant, no building should be constructed nearer 
a school building than a distance equal to twice its height. 
That is to say, when a school site is selected in cities, either 
grounds sufficiently large to insure no breach of this rule must 
be chosen, or else some restriction designed to meet this re- 
quirement must be placed on the erection of tall buildings in 
the vicinity. 

In the country, a site near a high hill, mountain, or tall forest 
trees may introduce the same difficulty with reference to proper 
fighting. In mountainous regions, it is not easy at all times 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 27 

to find a location that is free from the difficulties here suggested. 
If a school building must be located where the available light 
is thus diminished, special care must be taken in setting the 
windows, and in allowing more glass surface than would ordi- 
narily be required. 

School Buildings should be removed a Safe Distance from 
Inflammable Structures. — There is comparatively little 
danger from loss of Ufe by fire in well-constructed school build- 
ings of two stories in height — and none should be taller — 
when due effort has been made to eliminate the chances of 
possible fires within the building. The modern methods of 
fire-proofing buildings, together with fire drills, emergency 
doors, and other precautions, have rendered school buildings 
reasonably safe, and it is now only necessary to guard against 
fire from without to insure not only the safety of the pupils 
but of the building also. Fire escapes for school buildings are, 
in the main, a delusion and a snare. 

Objectionable Factories and Other Offensive Business 
Houses. — It seems almost useless to call attention to the fact 
that school children should not be gathered into a school 
building located in a neighborhood where abattoirs, livery 
stables, fish markets, or any sort of a factory can contaminate 
the air with offensive odors. But in many cities, school build- 
ings are found with such environments, and it will require much 
education of the pubHc to control effectively such conditions. 
In country districts, these conditions rarely prevail, and yet 
even there school buildings must be kept at a safe distance 
from stagnant ponds and ill-kept barnyards. 

Saloons and Other Immoral Places. — Here, again, cities are 
subject to difficulties from which the country is usually free. 
It has become necessary in many cities to pass and enforce 
ordinances prohibiting saloons from territory adjacent to 
pubhc schools. But these ordinances are not always enforced 
even after they have been enacted. I have actually known of a 
school board that rented rooms directly over a pubUc drinking 



28 School Hygiene 

house, and compelled teachers and pupils to occupy them. 
Such liberties with the moral standards of pubHc schools are, 
however, rare, and usually the very men who frequent saloons 
will, when appealed to properly, help to uphold the authorities 
when they seek to keep the neighborhood surrounding school 
buildings free from the suggestions and liberties associated 
with such places. 

Basements in School Buildings. — It is a well-nigh universal 
custom to construct basements under city school buildings, 
and country schools are now beginning to take advantage of 
this means of securing space for fuel, heating apphances, and 
toilet fixtures. There are certain sanitary advantages to be 
derived from a properly constructed basement that deserve 
some brief consideration. 

Location of Heating Plant. — In all cases where a small or 
medium-sized building is to be furnished with heat from a 
single boiler or furnace, it is far more convenient and usually 
more economical to locate such appliances within the building 
than outside under a separate roof. If the medium of heat 
is warmed fresh air, hot water, or low-pressure steam, there 
is much to be gained by placing the heater, when possible, 
directly below the rooms to be heated. Such location in- 
sures more direct delivery of the heat to the various parts of 
the building, and in the case of furnace heat, through decreased 
friction in air ducts, an increased supply of air furnished at a 
given temperature. In the case of hot water or steam heat, the 
return to the boiler may be made easier, and heat is thereby 
more uniformly delivered to all parts of the building. In 
most cases, the added length of flue or chimney insures better 
draft, and consequently more complete combustion of 
fuel. Basements afford opportunity for the storage of fuel 
convenient to fires, and of reducing the trouble due to dust and 
dirt almost invariably associated with coal or wood. 

Economy of Basement Rooms. — Ordinarily a given amount 
of room in a basement is not so expensive as it is above ground, 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 29 

for foundation walls may serve not only as supports for the 
structure above ground, but as walls for the basement rooms. 
Where the soil is of such a nature as to require small expense 
for excavation and proper drainage, useful space may be secured 
at a comparatively small cost. 

These facts are mentioned with the hope that those who have 
to do with the construction of rural schoolhouses will find 
it within their power to give more serious consideration to the 
construction of basements in connection with such buildings. 

Basements may prevent Ground Air from entering the 
Building. — A well-constructed and well- ventilated basement 
will shield the building from the rise of moisture and the en- 
trance of unwholesome ground air. In order to accomplish 
these ends, basement walls must be made of a good quahty 
of concrete or vitrified brick, the floor carefully covered with 
cement or asphaltum, and if the location demands, a tile drain 
laid all around the building to carry off the ground water and 
to guard against the saturation of the soil by heavy rains. 
In wet, cold weather, when warm rooms above serve to create 
an exhaust movement of the air from below, and the pressure 
of the water into the ground all about a building drives the 
ground air toward this drier spot, properly constructed base- 
ments are most useful in preventing the contamination of air 
in the rooms above. 

Play Rooms in School Basements. — It is never advisable 
to use basements as play rooms, unless there are no playgrounds, 
or bad weather prevents outdoor games. When basements are 
dry, well guarded against ground air, get plenty of Ught and 
good ventilation, there can be little objection to the use of such 
rooms during inclement weather, especially for gymnastic exer- 
cises and those directed games that require vigorous exercise. 

Lavatories and Toilets in Basements. — Basements furnish 
convenient places for the location of lavatories, baths, toilets, 
and the necessary plumbing fixtures needed in connection with 
a system of water supply. In cold climates toilets should 



30 School Hygiene 

be within the building in order to save the children from useless 
exposure, and to guard the toilets from negligence. In fact, 
these necessities may often be more safely placed within the 
building than outside, for when removed from the building, 
they are usually allowed, through sheer neglect, to become 
insanitary and a menace to both health and morals. Finally, 
basements prevent much trouble in cold climates by eliminat- 
ing accidents due to freezing weather. When washout toilets 
are located above ground, unless buildings are kept warm at 
all times through the winter, the pipes are likely to burst, 
and serious inconvenience and expense will ensue. 

Basement rooms should be at least ten feet from floor to 
ceiling, well lighted, heated, ventilated, and thoroughly guarded 
against the influx of ground water. Further discussion of 
toilet sanitation and baths will be given in separate sections. 
(See pp. ii8 f. and 98 f.) 

Manual Training Rooms in Basements. — If basement 
rooms are well hghted, well ventilated, and rendered pure by 
the entrance of direct sunlight, they may be safely used for 
manual training rooms, especially for work in wood and iron. 
Such work, however, demands good light, and rooms that are 
dry and airy. Where conditions permit, it is better to arrange 
rooms above ground for this work, but it is well worth while 
to utilize a basement for this purpose when no better place 
can be secured. Generally speaking, it is not advisable to 
locate workrooms for girls in basements, for sewing, cooking 
and other Hues of domestic training require more light, heat, 
and ventilation than the ordinary basements afford. Rooms 
for such work, especially where gas or electricity may be uti- 
lized for cooking, are more sanitary if they are located above 
ground, and even in the second story of two-story buildings. 
: THE CLASSROOM. — The Classroom the Unit of School- 
house Construction. — The main work of a school is done in 
the classroom, and at least three fourths of the time of the 
children during school hours is spent in the classroom. It is 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 31 

of primary importance, therefore, to construct and to equip 
these rooms in such a way as to make then sanitary, attrac- 
tive, and well adapted to their purpose. 

Size of a Classroom. — It has frequently been said that 
at least twenty square feet of floor surface should be supplied 
to each child in attendance upon our public schools ; but theory 
and practice in this regard, as in most other rules for the proper 
care of children, are far apart. 

No teacher should attempt to teach fifty children, for she 
cannot divide her time among so many and do good teach- 
ing. One way to limit this overburdening of the teacher and 
the neglect of the individual child is to lessen the size of the 
schoolroom so as to accommodate fewer pupils. The system 
of single desks, adopted rather universally in town and city 
schools, also helps to prevent overcrowding. But these 
methods of limiting numbers are only devices and are often 
overruled by those in authority. There are, however, some 
fundamental considerations with reference to the size of class- 
rooms that all teachers ought to keep in mind, not only for the 
sake of the advice that they may give to school officers, but 
also for the sake of the management of their classes. 

Length of a Classroom. — The length of a classroom should 
be determined by {a) the distance that the ordinary speaking 
voice of the teacher will carry clearly and distinctly. No 
argument is necessary to establish the truth of this statement, 
for the voice of the teacher plays a large part in teaching and 
managing her pupils. A pupil seated in the rear of a class- 
room ought to be able to hear distinctly and without effort 
all that the teacher expects him to hear. If, for example, a 
pupil fails to get the exact pronunciation of a word or syllable, 
he cannot learn to spell so easily and correctly, and he will 
unconsciously permit himself to become careless in his own 
pronunciation. It is very tiresome to have to make an effort 
to hear accurately, and no child will continue the attempt for 
any length of time. More than three fourths of all the teachers 



32 School Hygiene 

in this country are women. Their voices are usually untrained 
in matters of careful enunciation and the quality of their tones 
is rarely such as to render their voices most effective in carry- 
ing power. In the main, they have weak voices, and through 
much talking they are likely to strain them and make their 
tones strident and impure. A classroom that requires that 
some of the children be seated too far away to hear easily what 
the teacher says is harmful to both teacher and pupils. 

(&) The length of the schoolroom must be such that the 
teacher will be able to hear the children distinctly when they 
speak in an easy, natural way. At best, schoolroom air is 
hard on the throat of the child, especially if the building is 
not kept comparatively free from dust and the numerous bac- 
teria that find lodgment on this dust, ^^esides, it is of great 
importance to teach children to use their voices easily and 
effectively in moderate tones, and the lack of this art is quite 
noticeable in most Americans. Generally, our people enun- 
ciate indistinctly, vocalize without painstaking discrimination, 
and take little pride in elegant, refined speech. Our class- 
rooms must be adjusted to suit these needs, and in the lower 
grades, especially, there must be no forcing in vocalization. 

(c) All experienced teachers know that school management 
is much easier when the children are not far removed from the 
teacher. While this consideration has little to do in a direct 
way with health conditions, it may be a disturbing element 
in an indirect way. A badly governed school cannot be com- 
pletely healthful. Annoyances and vexations waste much 
nervous energy, kill interest, and in every way unsettle the 
mind for hygienic and economic learning. 

{d) A vital consideration is that which has to do with the 
distance at which children can see maps, charts, and written 
work upon the blackboard. Older persons see most of what 
is presented to them at a glance ; that is, they see with their 
minds more than with their eyes. Children have to see clearly 
with their eyes before they can learn to see very much with 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 33 

their minds. It has been demonstrated by careful experi- 
mentation that the distance at which the normal eye of a child 
can see the ordinary writing on a blackboard, without undue 
effort, is about twenty-nine feet. Beyond this distance, the 
pupil will either begin to feel the strain of accommodation, or 
else the work displayed on the board will have to be written 
with unusually large and heavy strokes. 

As remarked above, most of our teachers are women, and 
their writing is rarely heavy, and frequently small and rather 
angular in character. Maps and charts, as usually printed, 
demand a greater allowance in this matter than blackboard 
work. 

Taking all these demands into consideration, it is safe to say 
that no classroom for children of the elementary grades should 
exceed thirty-two feet in length, and this length is too great 
unless an aisle at least two and one half feet wide is left be- 
hind the last row of desks. When the hoped-for time comes 
that thirty pupils will be the maximum number that any 
teacher will be asked to handle, then the standard length of 
the classroom ought not to be over twenty-eight feet. 

Width of a Classroom. — The proper width of a class- 
room is largely determined by the requirements for abundant 
light and the hygienic demands for unilateral lighting. Were 
it not for these two important considerations, one could readily 
see that a square room would give the teacher the best oppor- 
tunity to gather her pupils more closely about her, and con- 
sequently manage and teach them most effectively. But this 
would introduce difficulties in Hghting. In a separate chapter 
the question of hghting will be considered more carefully, and 
it is only necessary to say here that in climates where sunlight 
is abundant and the atmosphere clear, a classroom can be 
properly Hghted from one side when the width of the room is 
not greater than twice the height of the top of the windows 
from the floor and the combined glass surface not less than 
one sixth of the area of the floor surface. In northern latitudes. 



34 School Hygiene 

where the light is dull much of the day, because the path of the 
sun is far to the south, and where a semi-twilight continues late 
in the morning and begins early in the afternoon, good illumi- 
nation cannot be secured in ordinary classrooms whose v^idth 
is in excess of one and one half times the height of the top 
of the windows from the floor, other conditions remaining 
the same. 

In Germany the rules generally prescribed for the proper 
width of a classroom specify that it should not exceed twenty- 
one feet, and their classrooms are generally higher than ours. 
We have found in this country that where our schoolrooms 
are twenty-four feet wide and twelve and one half to thirteen 
feet high they may be properly lighted from one side, if the 
windows are correctly placed and the combined area of the 
glass surface equals at least one fifth, or better one fourth, of 
the floor surface. 

The Height of the Classroom. — In deciding upon the 
height of the classroom, several factors ought to be taken into 
consideration. In general, it is a safe rule that no classroom 
should be more than thirteen feet high, unless for some reason 
there are obstructions to the proper entrance of plenty of light. 
It was formerly thought necessary to make classrooms four- 
teen feet or more in height in order to insure proper ventilation. 
But we now know that unless the windows extend to within 
six inches of the ceiling, there is little, if any, gain in securing 
proper ventilation by making the rooms so high. Any space 
above the tops of the windows becomes merely a dead air 
chamber for the warm air, and after the school has been in 
session for a few minutes, the impurity of the air is about the 
same in all parts of the room. 

In the next place, it will require a great deal more heat to 
maintain an even temperature in a classroom fourteen feet 
high than in one twelve and one half feet high. Further- 
more, the difference in the temperature between the floor line 
and the ceiling is generally greater as the height of the room 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 35 

increases. Hence, if there were no other great "advantage in 
the way of ventilation, this fact alone would warrant school 
authorities in reducing the height of the room to a minimum 
of at least twelve and one half or thirteen feet. 

Again, every foot added to the height of the classroom adds 
proportionately to the cost and maintenance of the building. 
If, for example, a two-story building is to be constructed, by 
keeping the height of classrooms twelve and one half feet 
from finished floor to finished ceiling, instead of making them 
fourteen feet, a saving of the cost of three feet of all the walls 
of the building is accomplished. This will be no small item, 
as any one can see. In buildings two or more stories high, 
stairways are vital units in the construction of the building. 
It is always more or less difi&cult to find proper space for 
stairways, and especially to prevent them from being too 
steep. Naturally, the lower the classroom, the easier it will 
be to construct stairways and to lessen their gradients. It 
will be evident, also, to all thoughtful teachers, that shorter 
stairways will not only be less expensive, but will be easier to 
ascend, especially for the older girls. They will also, to some 
degree, reduce the danger from fire and save time generally. 

In this connection, a question will naturally arise in the mind 
of the reader : " Is a classroom twelve and one half feet high 
from finished floor to finished ceiling sufficiently high to meet 
the normal requirements of school conditions ? " We have 
already said that it is better to have windows in one side only, 
and the question of supplying sufficient glass surface in a wall 
of this height would naturally arise. In the chapter on "The 
Lighting of Schoolrooms," this question is answered at length. 
It is enough to say here that when windows are properly 
placed and the horizon fine is reasonably low, it is not difficult 
to fight a classroom so constructed. From the point of view of 
actual teaching work, this height is to be preferred to fourteen 
feet. A room of the latter height is inclined to be resonant and 
to introduce difficulties with echoes. This is especially marked 



36 School Hygiene 

when steel laths and hard cement plaster are used. It is 
much easier, also, to keep a schoolroom clean where the walls 
are Kttle, if any, higher than the rule given suggests. In rooms 
of a greater height than twelve and one half feet, where the 
windows extend to within six inches of the ceiling, there is 
some advantage in securing better ventilation in warm weather. 
But considering the question from all points of view, it seems 
to me we shall err very Uttle, if at all, if we insist that the 
height of classrooms should not exceed twelve and one half 
feet, unless some special local conditions demand greater 
height. 

Classrooms in High Schools. — Thus far, I have had in 
mind classrooms for elementary grades for both country and 
city. When we come to consider the construction of class- 
rooms for high schools, it is evident that much expense and 
better results will follow if classrooms are variable in size to 
suit the number of pupils to be accommodated in any branch 
of study. It is quite evident that a fourth-year class in Latin 
in the average American high school will not need as large 
a room as a corresponding class in English or mathematics. 
A first-year class in mathematics will also demand a larger 
room than a corresponding class in German. It would be a 
needless expense to construct all the classrooms of a high 
school of a standard size. A decided saving can be made by 
a careful study of the high school classes and the relative num- 
ber of pupils attending such classes. Where there is no need 
for a classroom larger than that necessary to accommodate 
twenty students, it is poor economy to use a room large enough 
for thirty-five or forty. With reference to the height of class- 
rooms, there should be little, if any, difference between those 
for high schools and those for elementary grades. Speaking 
in general, it is not far from the best practice and sound theory 
to say, for the elementary grades, wherein as many as forty 
or forty-five children are to be taught, that the classroom 
should be thirty- two feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and twelve 



Location and Construction oj School Buildings 37 

and one half feet high in the clear. The height of high school 
rooms should not be less than twelve and one half feet, but 
the other dimensions should be determined by the size of 
classes to be accommodated, but should rarely exceed the 
dimensions named for classrooms for elementary pupils. 

The Floor of the Classroom. — The floors of all school- 
rooms should be practically air-tight, deadened, and made of 
the best material available. Wooden floors are to be preferred 
to cement or tiled floors, because wood is a poor conductor of 
heat, while cement or tiled floors are very cold and non- 
resilient. In wooden buildings where no attempt is made at 
effective fireproofing, double floors are hygienically necessary, 
especially in cold climates. Between these floors should be 
placed some deadening material, such as asbestos, felt, or some 
prepared deadening quilt, or, if expense must be reduced, a 
good quality of building paper. In the long run, such deaden- 
ing material is really economical, for it saves much fuel in 
winter, and, best of all, it brings relief from cold floors. No 
part of a school building, unless it be the windows, is more 
intimately concerned with health conditions than the floors. 
The upper part of the floor should be made of well-selected oak, 
maple, or pine boards, not over three inches wide, tongued and 
grooved, and carefully blindnailed or screwed, so that no 
crack will open between the boards to catch and hold dust and 
dirt. Before it is ready for use, a floor must be planed to a 
level, smooth surface, oiled and waxed, and then kept in good 
condition. In another chapter ("The Cleaning of School- 
rooms ") specific direction for the care of floors will be given. 

Teacher's Platform not Needed. — The teacher's platform, 
Hke the tower so often found on school buildings, is a remnant 
from the days when the church dominated schools. It is a 
direct descendant of the pulpit. The early conception of the 
business of a teacher required him to furnish all information 
by means of lectures or sermons, while the pupils were to catch 
and remember all that they could. To-day we beHeve that 



38 School Hygiene 

the best results may be accomplished by helping the children 
to help themselves. Hence, the chief business of the teacher 
consists less in lecturing or moralizing than in directing, sug- 
gesting, helping, and furnishing opportunity for individual 
and community initiative. The schoolroom ought to be a 
workroom, where teacher and students cooperate, and from 
which ex cathedra {i.e. from the pulpit) information giving 
has very largely disappeared. The platform is in the way, 
makes the building more difficult to keep clean, and has no 
right in elementary schools. All that is needed for the teacher 
is a chair and a small desk or table. These may be moved 
easily to suit demands, and thus it is made possible to utilize 
the space in front of the desks for special work, such as nature 
study, sand modeling, or some form of manual exercises. The 
room is neater, cleaner, and better adapted to school Hfe with- 
out a platform than it is with it. 

Cloak Rooms. — Each classroom designed for elementary 
pupils should be supplied with a cloak room, preferably at the 
teacher's end of the room. In large buildings, especially in 
cities, this cloak room should open into the classroom only. 
That is to say, there should be no door from the hall to the 
cloak room. All who enter the cloak room should first pass 
through the classroom. This sort of arrangement gives 
the teacher easy control over the children and prevents 
much pilfering and disturbance from those who might other- 
wise gain entrance to the clothing and lunch baskets of 
the children without entering the schoolroom. By the use 
of the ventilation plan suggested later (see "Ventilation," 
p. 155), wraps may be well ventilated and dried and no possi- 
ble odors from them will enter the classroom. It is important 
that hooks for wraps, boxes for lunch baskets, and receptacles 
for umbrellas and overshoes be provided and numbered so 
that children will be taught to be careful and methodical, and 
especially that indiscriminate mixing of the clothing may be 
avoided. Such a provision may prevent the distribution of 



Location and Construction oj School Buildings 39 

parasites or the spread of skin diseases, not to mention the pos- 
sibilities of more serious contagion. 

Doors and Transoms. — It is really remarkable how little 
change had been made in the construction of doors for hundreds 
of years until recently. The paneled door with a transom 
above it is almost universal. But is it best to continue these? 
At the risk of running counter to the prejudice in favor of panel 
doors and transoms, I wish to say that I believe that both are 
out of place in a modern sanitary schoolroom. It is the rarest 
thing to see a transom in a schoolroom in actual use. It is 
supposedly put there for the purpose of ventilation, and if 
not used for this purpose, it certainly is valueless. Transoms 
serve to catch a wonderful amount of dust and cobwebs, and 
^are rarely cleaned. Even if teachers were incHned to use 
transoms for ventilation, it is very doubtful whether many 
of them could be opened. Only in the most carefully and per- 
fectly constructed buildings is there no probabiHty that the set- 
thng of the building and the shrinking of the door frames will 
cause the transom to bind so as to make it very difficult or even 
impossible to open it. But even if it were usable, it is gener- 
ally in the wrong place to serve in any way to improve ventila- 
tion. If it opens into a hallway, it is not hkely that the air 
from the hall will be desirable for a classroom. If it opens 
on the opposite side of the room from the windows, and out 
of doors, then it will serve to create a draft when windows are 
open, or be ineffective for the whole room when the windows are 
closed. By lowering all of the windows a little and keeping 
the transom closed, better ventilation is secured in cold weather. 
In warm weather, if a draft is grateful and safe, the door can 
be opened to better advantage. 

From the sanitary pt)int of view, balancing the dust-catching 
procHvities of transoms and the increased expense involved 
in constructing them against their value as a means to aid 
in ventilation, there is no doubt in my mind that schoolrooms 
are better off without them. 



40 School Hygiene 

Doors without Panels. — What has been said as to the dust 
that gathers in transoms partly applies to paneled doors. 
Unless they are dusted daily, the various ledges about the 
panels will gather dust out of school hours as well as during 
the school session. When the door is opened or closed, this 
dust is scattered through the room. Doors are now made 
without panels, and my experience with them enables me to 
say that they are not only more sanitary, but more durable, 
less likely to sag and warp, and more artistic than paneled 
doors. They are built of a core of light, well-seasoned pine 
boards, tongued and grooved and glued together horizontally 
across the door. This core is then faced with veneer on both 
sides with the grain of the wood running vertically with the 
door. This furnishes a smooth surface on each side, and, 
when the hardware is in place, gives a finished and artistic 
appearance. Such a door is strong, comparatively light, and is 
not inclined to sag or skew. It is easily kept clean, and may 
be finished on the inside to harmonize with the room, and on 
the outside with the hall or exterior of the building. " Sani- 
tary " metal doors are also on the market, but with these I 
have had no experience. 

Carpet Strips not needed under Inside Doors. — In this 
connection, I wish to say that in schoolrooms carpet strips 
may be dispensed with. They catch dust, are troublesome in 
sweeping, cause children to stumble, and serve no essential 
purpose. When door jams are well set, and the doors are so 
made that they do not sag nor drag on the floor, there is no 
need of the carpet strips. Exterior doors must, of course, be so 
set that they will protect against driving rains. All doors to 
school buildings must be hung to swing outward, especially 
outside doors. This precaution is necessary to guard against 
danger from fires. Outside doors in large buildings should be 
fitted with emergency locks, so that, while they cannot be 
opened from the outside without a key, they are easily opened 
by any child from within by a slight pressure against a lever 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 41 

set directly across the door. Such a device affords protection 
against thieves while classes are in session, without endanger- 
ing the children within. These safety locks are made by a 
number of firms, and although they are somewhat expensive, 
they ought to be used on the main exits in all large buildings. 

BLACKBOARDS. — American teachers make more use of 
blackboards than do the teachers of any other nation, with the 
possible exception of England. In Germany, Italy, and France 
it is quite rare to find any blackboard for the use of the pupils. 
The teachers of these countries make use of a small black- 
board set on a frame something Hke an easel, and use it for 
demonstration purposes and for lesson assignments. In this 
particular, I am sure that American and English teachers have 
a great advantage. No better training in the democracy 
of learning can be furnished our school children than the give- 
and-take criticism afforded by the proper use of a blackboard. 
If a pupil is called on to solve a problem on the board, and then 
to stand before his fellow-classmates and explain his work, he 
learns to do it clearly and correctly in order not to subject 
himself to class criticism. He learns that if he gives a correct 
solution and states his reasons for each step clearly, his work 
— in plain sight of his fellows — will overcome all criticisms. 
But if he fails, he knows that his weakness is known to the 
whole class as well as to the teacher. The blackboard may thus 
teach self-rehance, self-respect, and the necessity of under- 
standing clearly and thoroughly what he undertakes to dem- 
onstrate under criticism. And criticism by fellow-pupils is 
often more efficacious than that by the teacher. The wise 
use of a blackboard will help to teach all the pupils to respect 
abihty, unassailable reasoning and accuracy. 

Best Materials for Blackboards. — The older blackboards 
were merely blackened boards, as the name indicates, and were 
either set on a frame, or a part of the ceiled wall was painted 
black for this purpose. Many rural schools are yet in this 
stage, and have no other blackboards than those furnished by 



42 School Hygiene 

sections of painlcd walls. It is needless to say that such 
boards are unhygienic and unsatisfactory in many ways. The 
next step in the cv\)lution of their use, if not their construction, 
consisted in applyinjj; so-calli'd litiuid slating to plastered walls. 
This made a better surface, but rough usage soon caused the 
j)lastering to chi|), and left the board in a sjiotly condition. 
Such a board cannot be washed without endangering the plas- 
ter, and must be repainted at frequent intervals in order to 
provT at all satisfactory. 

Slate Blackboards. — Slate was probably used in the more 
fortunate schools of our country shortly after the blackboard 
was introduced. There is a table, with a large slab of slate 
set in the top of it, in the museum of the Antiquarian Society 
at Worcester, Mass., that is surely over a hundred years old; 
but it was probably marked more with a pencil, like our old 
hand slates, than with chalk, though both may have been used, 
lihukboards were not introduced into this country until about 
iSio or 1815, despiti' the fact that they had already been used 
for nearly three hundred years in l'Anx)pe. 

A good quality of slate, well set, is still the best blackboard 
material ordinarily available. It will wear indefinitely, does 
not, as a rule, glisten and reflect high light, as a painted surface 
will, is easily washed, takes the chalk reatlily, and furnishes a 
pleasing contrast to the chalk marks. It must be kept clean, 
or it will, in time, absorb oil from the hands and take the chalk 
unevenly. The high cost of slate has been the chief reason why 
it has not been used more universally. It is dilhcult to set 
evenly and solidly so as to make good joints and prevent the 
slabs from drawing away from the wall. Where the joints are 
uneven, they catch the eraser and frequently knock it out of 
the hand of the pupil, thus scattering chalk dust on the floor 
and in the air. All teachers know, or ought to know, that 
chalk dust is hard on the throat, and irritating to the air 
passages. Every precaution should be taken to prevent it from 
polluting the air of schoolrooms. The greatest care should be 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 43 

exercised to match the slabs in setting slate blackboards, in 
order to get them of the same thickness at the joints, of uni- 
form color, and to fasten them securely to their backing. 
When these precautions are taken, a good quality of slate 
makes a blackboard that will meet practically all the require- 
ments of hygiene and utility in a classroom. 

Glass Blackboards. — An excellent blackboard may be 
made of a good quality of heavy glass. It is as yet Httle 
used in this country, but is commonly found in English 
schools. A glass blackboard is prepared in the following way : 
One surface of the glass is lightly but evenly ground so as to 
roughen it to cut the crayon. The other side is roughened or 
left comparatively smooth, and then painted such a color as 
to meet the most exacting demands of vision. It is then set 
with the painted side to the wall. The color is thus out of 
reach of the crayon or brush, and yet seems to be an integral 
part of the glass, so that a crayon mark stands out in clear 
rehef against a uniform color. Authorities generally concede 
that a slight tint of dark green mixed with a dead black is the 
most restful color and does not absorb quite as much light as a 
pure black. The reader will readily see that glass boards offer 
an opportunity for securing the best and most uniform color 
obtainable. They also make it possible to have white or 
cream-colored blackboards (if such paradoxical designations 
may be used) for the sake of art work with charcoal or colored 
crayons. Indeed, it has been claimed that a black mark on 
a Hght background is more easily seen than a white mark 
on a dark background, and it may be that in time light-colored 
boards, so made, will displace blackboards for all general school 
work. It is certain that if black crayons could be so prepared 
as not to soil the hands and clothing and create a general 
smudgy appearance in the room, there would be Httle diffi- 
culty in making this change. If such boards could be made 
practicable for daily use, they would bring much rehef from 
the dangers due to absorption of light now chargeable against 
the ordinary blackboard. 



44 School Hygiene 

Advantages of Glass Blackboards. — The advantages of 
glass blackboards over slate, or any other kind now in use, are 
these : they do not absorb moisture when washed, nor oil 
from the hands of the pupils ; they may be colored to suit 
the most exacting demands of the hygiene of vision ; are prac- 
tically indestructible; and generally improve with ordinary 
usage ; may be made of even thickness ; crayon marks erase 
easily; and the slabs may be very closely joined together; 
if painted properly and ground evenly, they reflect no high 
lights. They do, however, cut the chalk too freely unless 
very lightly ground. Talc crayons may be used on them to 
good advantage where light, smooth lines are required. Any 
skillful mechanic can prepare a plate of glass for a blackboard 
by the use of dampened emery dust and the proper quality 
of paint. It is essential in preparing such glass to avoid cutting 
the surface too deeply and at the same time to render the sur- 
face uniform. The task is not easy, however, for it will 
require much time and painstaking effort to secure a smooth 
uniform cutting surface. The painting and setting require 
no more special skill than is required for slate boards. 

Manufactured Materials for Blackboards. — There is a 
great variety of manufactured blackboards now in the market. 
Some are made of specially prepared sheets of paper or fiber 
pressed together to the proper thickness, and colored to suit ; 
others are made of various cement combinations, molded 
and cut in slabs similar to slate ; still others are made from a 
prepared cement, and plastered on the walls. Most, if not all, 
of these are much less expensive than either natural slate or 
glass and give fairly good results if properly set, and if the walls 
upon which they are placed are well protected from moisture. 
The boards that will prove least satisfactory are those that, 
by reason of the rise of moisture in walls, or through ground 
air, warp or buckle and withdraw from the backing against 
which they are placed. Some of the newer preparations give 
promise of good results, but no final estimate of their worth 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 45 

can be given at this time. It is safe to say that either slate 
or glass should be used where a community is seeking for the 
best, and that these materials should measure up to the stand- 
ard demanded. 

My experience with blackboards made of cement mixed 
with ground slate or other material leads me to fear that most 
of them will cut the chalk too freely, and consequently will 
liberate an unnecessary amount of chalk dust in the room. 

Location of Blackboards. — In classrooms for the inter- 
mediate and higher grades, where unilateral lighting is used, 
blackboards may be safely placed on three sides of the room. 
They should never be put between windows, whether these be 
close together or well separated. When the eyes are turned 
toward an illuminated surface, they naturally and automati- 
cally adjust themselves to permit only as much light as is 
necessary to clear vision. The reader can make this clear by 
performing the following simple experiment. Stand before a 
window through which bright light is streaming, and, by the 
use of a small hand mirror, note the size of the pupil of the 
eye, as well as the feeling of eye strain due to the amount of 
direct light entering the eye. Then face about so that the 
direct Kght from the window will not enter the eyes. Note 
the enlarged pupils and the rehef that comes. 

When children have to face windows in looking toward a 
blackboard, their eyes are automatically adjusted to the 
stronger Ught, and hence out of adjustment to see easily and 
clearly what is written on the board. When the boards are 
placed opposite the windows, the eyes are adjusted only to the 
light reflected from the board, and if the illumination is suffi- 
cient, vision is easy and restful. This, then, is the best loca- 
tion for blackboards, and the wall space opposite windows 
ought to be saved as much as possible for this purpose. The 
front and rear of the room may be used advantageously for 
board space, and, unless the material used reflects high lights, 
these locations will prove satisfactory. 



46 School Hygiene 

Height of Blackboard from the Floor. — It is a very 
common fault to set blackboards for the primary and inter- 
mediate grades too high above the floor. Again and again I 
have seen small children stand on benches in order to reach 
the board. This is doubly bad ; for it not only puts the board 
out of easy reach, but it darkens the walls of the room for too 
great a height. An ordinary child of seven years of age is 
approximately forty-four inches in height, and from the floor 
to the level of his eyes is about forty inches. He needs to 
have some free space above the chalk trough for his writing, 
so that he will not have to do his work at too great a height 
above the line of vision. If, therefore, the lower part of the 
board in the classrooms for little folks be placed twenty-six 
inches above the floor, and be made from thirty to thirty-six 
inches wide, several advantages will be gained. It is impor- 
tant to have enough board room, but is harmful to have more 
than is needed, or more than can be used. On the teacher's 
end of the room, the board ought to be four feet wide, so 
that she can put such work as she wants the children to ob- 
serve for some length of time well out of their reach. Further- 
more, this height of the blackened surface in front of the 
children is, on the whole, an advantage rather than otherwise. 
Naturally it absorbs light, but it serves to prevent the glare 
that would to some extent come into their eyes from a more 
extended white or tinted wall. The board in the back of the 
room, if it is needed at all, should be set as the one opposite 
the windows. In the elementary grades and high school, the 
boards can be set from thirty to thirty-eight inches above 
the floor, and the slabs should be at least three and one half 
feet wide. 

Covering Blackboards to prevent the Absorption of Light. — 
Much criticism has been directed against blackboards because 
they absorb much light, and do not at all times present a neat 
appearance. This criticism is partly justifiable ; but in well- 
lighted rooms there is so little danger from this cause that it is 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 47 

negligible. However, on dark days and in rooms with in- 
sufficient illumination, some relief may be obtained by drawing 
light-colored window shades over the blackboards. These 
may be fastened just above the board, and pulled down when 
more Ught is needed and when the board is not in actual use. 

Dangers of Chalk Dust. — All teachers know by experience 
how disagreeable it is to breathe chalk dust, and how harsh 
it makes their throats feel. Fewer teachers know that it often 
contains great numbers of bacteria gathered from the air of 
the schoolroom or from the dirt rubbed off of the children's 
hands as they write their work and erase it. It requires 
careful training to prevent children from erasing with the 
fleshy part of the hand, or from wetting the fingers in the 
mouth and erasing with the finger tips. It is needless to say 
that such procedure is filthy, and should be prevented. This 
is best accomplished by having a good supply of clean erasers 
at hand, thus avoiding the temptation to erase otherwise, 
and by teaching children the dangers lurking in what may 
seem to be " clean " chalk dust. 

Cleaning Erasers. — Where a vacuum cleaning system is 
installed in a school building, erasers may be quickly and 
safely cleaned in the same way as the floor. To make this 
possible, a shallow box should be constructed and the erasers 
packed into it backside down. The box should be made to hold 
only a given number, say twenty, and should be shallow enough 
to allow the erasing surfaces to extend slightly above the sides. 
The janitor can gather them up in this box, and after cleaning 
them, return them in the same way. This will prevent them 
from being dropped on the floor or handled much. The best 
tool for this kind of vacuum work has not been devised yet, but 
the smaller tools for the floors may be used with fair success. 
By this means the most annoying dust common in a school- 
room is safely and permanently removed. In most schools, 
however, no appliances for vacuum cleaning are available. 
In these, erasers must be cleaned by knocking the dust out, at 



48 School Hygiene 

a safe distance from the schoolrooms. In this respect teachers 
as well as janitors are frequently careless. Generally, erasers 
are not kept sufficiently clean, as the blackboards often in- 
dicate, and as the clothing of the children at the board will 
testify. 

Dustless Crayon. — It is plainly impossible to make dustless 
crayons, for were they dustless, they would leave no mark. 
All advertisements of " dustless crayons " are either false, or 
else they use the word " dustless " relatively. Some kinds of 
crayons are not so soft as others, do not cut so easily, and hence 
do not leave so much dust. A good quahty of talc leaves less 
dust than crayon, but does not make as heavy a mark as 
crayon. There is absolutely no practicable medium for writ- 
ing upon a blackboard that does not release dust. 

Dustless Erasers. — This term is apphed by manufacturers 
to those erasers that are made so as to gather and hold the 
dust most easily and persistently. Here, again, " dustless " 
is only a relative term, for no eraser can continually gather 
dust without giving out dust. A wet sponge is about the 
only dustless eraser possible, but is limited to occasional use 
when the board needs a thorough cleansing. During work at 
the board a dry eraser is the only practicable one. The use 
of good erasers is important, and their selection should be 
left largely to the teachers who have to use them. 

Protection against Chalk Dust. — Most of the chalk dust 
removed from the board either clings to the eraser, or falls 
into the chalk trough below the board. Pupils may be taught 
to handle an eraser so as to scatter little dust in the room, 
though this will necessitate keeping the erasers well cleaned. 
The chalk trough should be large enough to hold erasers as 
well as the crayons and the dust. A simple device for keeping 
the crayons and erasers from coming into contact with the 
dust in the bottom of the trough may be made in the follow- 
ing way : Cut strips of one-eighth-inch meshed wire just 
wide enough to fit horizontally into the trough ; hinge them 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 49 

carefully with staples so that they may be lifted easily and 
will not serve as a hindrance when the trough is being cleaned. 
It is necessary to select a wire mesh in which the wires are 
soldered together at the crossings. When this wire is in place 
in the trough, it readily permits the dust to go through, but 
holds the brush and the crayons above the dust. The strips 
should not be over six feet in length, so that they may be han- 
dled with little trouble. Such a simple device will aid greatly 
in preventing the dust from being gathered up by the erasers 
or crayons and so scattered in the air to gather on the clothing 
and hands of the pupils. At proper intervals the dust may be 
removed by scattering a little damp sawdust over it and thus 
brushing it along the trough to an exit provided for it. This 
exit is best made by cutting convenient holes in the trough 
and closing them below with some form of sliding stop. A 
good-sized cork, a wooden plug, or, better, a sliding button may 
be used. In this way, the dust may be taken from the trough 
without scattering it, as is usually done when such openings 
are not provided. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Study the sites of as many school buildings as you can in the 
country and city, and determine what rating you would give each on the 
basis of rightfvd demands. 

2. How much land should be allotted to a class of forty-five school 
children so that, they may have ample room for play, nature study, and 
practical agriculture ? 

3. Select a schoolhouse badly located with reference to noise and one 
far removed from such disturbances, and determine as far as possible 
by careful observation the advantage to children who use the latter. 

4. Study the statistics relative to the effect on health of locating dwell- 
ing houses on damp, undrained land. 

5- What is the composition of "ground air"? How does it differ 
from the air above ground ? 

6. Is it practicable for many cities to remove their school buildings 
for the elementary grades and high schools to the outskirts of the cities, 
away from factories and unhygienic surroundings, and transport those 



50 School Hygiene 

pupils who live at too great distances to and from school morning and 
night ? What advantages would such a plan introduce ? What 
disadvantages ? 

.j>- 7. If city children were required to walk farther to school, would it 
not give them exercise that many of them need ? 

8. Determine the best construction and best usage of basements 
under school buildings. Note all points mentioned in the text and set 
forth such others as may occur to you. 

9. Set forth in detail all the facts that you can find and those that 
you can discover which will enable you to determine with approximate 
accuracy the proper dimensions of a classroom for forty pupils of the 
elementary grades. 

10. Study the floors of school buildings, so as to determine what sort 
to recommend to school authorities. Explain how they may be kept in 
the best condition. 

11. Take an ordinary general high school program, find out how 
many classes there are daily, how many pupils there have been in each 
subject listed for the past five years, and, on the basis of this information, 
plan the size and number of rooms needed for these classes. 

12. Locker rooms for high schools are often located in basements. 
Is this location justifiable, taking all conditions into consideration ? Why ? 

13. Make a careful investigation of a number of school buildings in 
which transoms are found, in order to determine fairly and accurately 
the practical value that they have had, and also the troubles that they 
have caused by catching dust. Note their condition as you find them. 

14. Do you think doors without panels are to be preferred to doors 
with panels ? 

15. Of what advantage are platforms for teachers? What disad- 
vantages have they ? 

16. Experiment with glass blackboards in order to determine what 
color is most satisfactory. (A sliding frame into which various colored 
paper may be placed behind the glass will furnish an easy method of 
changing the color.) 

17. Make careful note of the amount of blackboard surface needed for 
various grades, and for mixed grades. 

18. Devise a method of cleaning erasers so as to keep them clean with 
the least effort, and so as to scatter as little of the chalk dust in the room 
as possible. 

19. Try the method of covering up the blackboards on dark days, as 
suggested, and note the effect. 

T' 20. Would it be more in accord with the laws of hygiene to use black 
crayon on a white board, than white crayon on a blackboard ? Why ? 



Location and Construction of School Buildings 51 

21. Experiment with the various kinds of blackboards now on the mar- 
ket in order to determine as far as possible what kind is to be preferred. 

22. What height above the floor should the bottom of the blackboard 
be for each grade, including the high school? Note the demands for 
each subject. 

-J— 23. Would American schools lose or gain by adopting the German 
method of having blackboard space for the teacher only ? 

24. Experiment with various kinds of crayons and talc to determine 
which gives the best results on the boards that you are using. 

25. Are your blackboards properly located? Why? 

26. How can the walls in schoolrooms be decorated to best advantage ? 

27. Are the restrictions set on the height of school buildings justifiable ? 
Why? 

28. Make an investigation into the relative cost of wood, brick, stone, 
and concrete construction for school buildings. 

29. Which seems more likely to meet the hygienic requirements of school 
buildings, wood, brick, stone, or concrete ? 

30. How wide should the halls be for an elementary school building ? 
High school ? 

31. Make a careful study of the needs of assembly rooms, and the best 
position in the building for them. (See the reference on American 
Schoolhouses.) 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Barry, W. F. The Hygiene of the Schoolroom. New York, 1903. 

19s pp., illus. 
Boston School Committee. Annual Reports Schoolhouse Committee. 
Briggs, W. F. Modern American School Buildings. New York, 1909. 

411 pp., illus. 
Bruce, W. G. School Architecture. Milwaukee, 1910. 285 pp., illus. 
BuRGERSTEiN and Netolitzky. Schulhygiene. Jena, 1902. 997 pp., 

illus. 
BuRRAGE and Bailey. School Sanitation and Decoration. New York, 

1899. 224 pp., illus. 
Clay, Felix. Modern School Buildings. London, 1906. 555 pp., illus. 
CopEMAN, S. M. Influence of Soil on Health. In a treatise on hygiene 

and public health (edited by Stephen and Murphy). London. 

pp. 309-312. 
Crowley, R. H. The Hygiene of School Life. London, 1910. 403 pp. 
Dresslar, F. B. American Schoolhouses. U. S. Bureau of Education 

Bulletin No. 5, 1910. 133 pp., illus. 



52 School Hygiene 

Ellis, A. C, and KuEHNE, H. School Buildings. Austin, 1905. 125 pp., 

illus. 
EuLENBERG and Bach. Schulgesundheitslehre. Berlin, 1900. 1390 pp. 
Fletcher B. F. and H. P. Architectural Hygiene. London, 191 1. 

284 pp. 
Gerhard, W. P. Sanitation of Public Buildings (Chap. IV). New York, 

1907. 262 pp. 
Hamlin, Snyder, and Others. Modern Schoolhouses. New York, 1910. 

61 pp., Ulus. 
Johnston Brothers. Plans and Specifications for Small School 

Buildings. (For New Mexico), 1909. 94 pp., illus. 
Mills, W. T. American School Building Standards. Columbus, 1910. 

324 pp., illus. 
Lyster, R. a. School Hygiene. London, 1908. 359 pp., illus. 
Moore, J. A. The Schoolhouse, its Heating and Ventilation. Boston, 

1905. 204 pp. 
Morrison, G. B. School Architecture and Hygiene. New York, 1910. 

56 pp., illus. 
New York State Department of Public Instruction. Recent School Archi- 
tecture. Albany, 1897. 425 pp., illus. 
Parsons and Son. School Buildings. 175 pp., iUus. 
Rice, Mrs. I. L. "Quiet Zones" for Schools. Forum, v. 46, pp. 731-742. 
RoBSON, P. A. School Planning. London, 1911. 108 pp., illus. 
Shaw, E. R. School Hygiene. New York, 1901. 260 pp., illus. 
Young, A. G. Seventh Annual Report of the Maine State Board of Health, 

1892. 399 pp., illus. 
Wheelwright, E. M. School Architecture. Boston, 1901. 324 pp., 

illus. 
American School Board Journal. Milwaukee. Monthly. 
Pedagogical Seminary. Worcester. Quarterly. 
Das Schulhaus. Berlin. Monthly. 
Das Schulzimmer. Charlottenburg. Quarterly. 
Zeitschrift fUr Schulgesundheitspflege. Hamburg. Monthly. 

BLACKBOARDS 

Dresslar, F. B. Blackboards. Cyclopedia of Education. New York, 
1911. 

Farley, D. H. The Proper Use of Blackboards. Educational Founda- 
tions, V. 21, pp. 534-541. 

Perry, A. C. " The Use of the Blackboard." In his Problems of the 
Elementary School. New York, 1910. 

(See the various texts on general school hygiene for additional references.) 



CHAPTER IV 
LIGHTING OF SCHOOLHOUSES 

Amount of Glass Surface Needed. — In every schoolroom 
of the normal size with proper orientation and unhindered sky 
exposure, there should be from one fourth to one sixth as mach 
glass surface as floor surface. That is to say, in a schoolroom 
thirty-two feet long and twenty-four feet wide, provision 
should be made for from one hundred and twenty-eight to 
one hundred and ninety-two square feet of glazing. In the 
south and southwestern parts of our country, however, there 
is less difference in the duration of dayHght for summer and 
winter, the sun's path is higher above the horizon, and there are 
fewer foggy days during the year. In these parts, and espe- 
cially in the southwest, where the glare of the sun reflected 
from brown fields or mountains is sometimes very trying, one 
hundred and twenty-eight to one hundred and fifty square 
feet of glass surface for a room of this size is sufficient. This 
amount will suffice, however, only on condition that the win- 
dows are properly placed, where they face either to the east or 
west, and where in every case they have unhindered exposure 
to the sky. Under the topic on Orientation there have been 
given the reasons for the preference for east and west exposure 
over that toward other points of the compass. 

In the north, where the days during the winter are relatively 
short and there are many dull days during the school year, 
it is often necessary to have a greater window area. In 
smoky cities where tall buildings, often in the immediate 
neighborhood of schools, and in all positions where near-by 
mountain ranges or high hills raise the sky line on the window 

53 



54 School Hygiene 

sides, it has been found advisable and even necessary to have 
one fourth as many square feet of glass in the windows, as there 
are square feet in the floor surface. 

In climates where the winters are long and cold, double 
windows are necessary, and these of necessity reduce the Kght 
somewhat, hence allowance must be made to offset this loss. 

Regulations in Foreign Countries. — Baginsky gives in a 
table the amount of glass surface relative to floor surface in 
all the newer buildings of BerHn, and this runs from about 
twenty-three per cent to sixteen per cent ; but the great major- 
ity of them have about twenty per cent as much glass surface 
as floor surface.^ 

Sir Ashton Webb in a paper read before the Second Inter- 
national Congress on School Hygiene held in London, 1907, 
says : — 

" The Board of Education lay down one fifth as the ap- 
proximate area of window glass to the floor area, to light a 
classroom satisfactorily. In very confined sites, however, 
one quarter is sometimes found necessary, and in open and 
exposed sites, one sixth will sometimes suffice. Anything 
beyond the amount of glass actually necessary to give a satis- 
factory fight is undesirable, as it tends to make the room cold 
in winter and hot in summer, and adds considerably to the 
difficulty of the effective treatment of the room both externally 
and internally. The glass fine should not be more than four 
feet above the floor, with the heads of the windows carried up 
as near the ceiling as possible." ^ 

Nearly all the progressive European countries have, in 
recent years, enacted laws fixing the amount of window sur- 
face for all new school buildings from one fourth to one sixth 
of the floor surface. It must not be forgotten, however, that 
these proportions will prove satisfactory only when windows are 
properly placed in the room, when they have the best orienta- 

1 See Baginsky, Schulhygiene, Vol. I, p. 260. Stuttgart, 1898. 

2 See Transactions, Vol. I, p. 58. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 55 

tion and are not rendered more or less ineffective by outside 
obstructions. It is of the utmost importance to place the 
windows in the schoolroom in the right position, and I wish to 
emphasize this point, for here is perhaps the most difficult 
problem for the architect to solve. 

Difficulty of placing Windows to secure Enough Surface. — If 
the schoolroom is thirty-two feet long, twenty-four feet wide, 
and twelve and one half feet clear from floor to ceiling, we 
must, if we have one fourth as much glazing as floor surface, 
handle the wall space carefully. 

Height of the Lower Part of the Windows above the Floor. 
— To begin with, the bottom of the windows in the rooms de- 
signed for the primary classes should be at least three feet six 
inches from the floor, and for all upper grades, including high 
schools, they should be set four feet above the floor. There are 
several reasons for these demands. The bottom of all school- 
room windows should be higher than the eyes of the pupils when 
seated at their desks, in order that no light from the windows 
may shine directly into their eyes while they study. The Kght 
needed is that reflected into the eye from the page of the book 
or the written work upon which the pupil is engaged. If the 
strong direct light from the windows strikes the retinae, auto- 
matic adjustment of the eyes takes place to suit this, and hence 
of necessity, maladjustment for the weaker light reflected 
from the page must follow. If, therefore, the eyes are sub- 
jected to the stimulations of two or more sources of light of 
unequal intensity, there will be a conflict between the demands 
of these stimuH, varying with the conscious attempts of the 
person to adjust to one or the other. Every one knows, or 
can readily see by shading his own eyes and watching their 
action in a mirror, that the pupils automatically contract when 
the light is strong and expand when the light is reduced. If 
windows in a schoolroom are set so low that the direct light 
from them enters the eyes of the pupil while he is at work, there 
will be a constant attempt, more or less unconscious, to shade 



56 School Hygiene 

his eyes from the windows, or else he will be subjected to the 
strain of unhygienic vision and fatigue of the ciliary muscles. 
It has been my habit in attempting to bring this point 
forcibly to the attention of architects and school officers, to 
have them take a position near a window lower than their 
eyes and, after having them read for a few moments, place a 
board across the lower part of the window so as virtually to 
raise the line of light well above their eyes, and ask them for 
their preference. By repeating this experiment several times 
so that they will directly sense the relief that the higher 
window gives, you are then in a position to put your question 
forcibly, viz.: "Do you think it would be wise, or even 
humane, to build a schoolhouse, that will probably last for a 
hundred years, with windows so placed that hour after hour, 
and day after day, the Uttle children or young people who 
attend our schools, and who are more sensitive than we, would 
be compelled to suffer this inconvenience and fatiguing strain ? " 
The answer that you will get is the one that you want ; but 
you have gained other points besides. You have taught 
them that you know something about schoolhouse construc- 
tion that they had never thought of, and you have opened the 
way for cooperation, which will eventually produce willingness 
to follow the advice of one who knows the demands of the 
schoolroom. 

Recently, in a discussion of this matter a practical school- 
man objected to the windows being set so high, saying that, 
in case of fire it would be difficult for the children to chmb 
out. While this objection might have some weight for the 
primary grades, it could not apply to the upper grades. How- 
ever, since it is a rational and an almost universal plan to house 
the primary pupils on the ground floors of our schools, in 
buildings that are safely constructed with reference to fire 
protection, it is less dangerous for the pupils to be sent out 
directly through the doors than through the windows. T 
therefore see no real basis for this objection. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 57 

Again, it is claimed that it is not wise to shut out the world 
from the children by making the bottoms of the windows so 
high from the floor that they cannot see out without standing. 
No one is more anxious than I am to let the children see, but I 
do not think much good can come from mixing work and play. 
If at any time it is well for the children to look out, send them 
to the windows or, better still, send them out of doors to look 
about. But there is one thing that they always need, one 
habit of great importance that they should acquire, and that is 
to hold fast to the work in hand until it is done. " Work 
while you work, and play while you play " is an old saw em- 
bodying a bit of sound mental economy. 

Then there is still another reason why windows should be 
placed from three and one half to four feet above the floor. 
This arrangement enables you to get your architect to extend 
the windows nearer to the ceiling. In fact, it becomes neces- 
sary for him to do so, or else he will not be able to supply the 
requisite amount of window space in one side of the room. 
One foot of glass surface near the ceiHng of a schoolroom is 
worth more than two feet at the bottom of a low window, 
especially in rooms on the ground floor, for the reason that 
from thence the light is thoroughly diffused over the room, 
and especially because a great deal more light enters the upper 
part of a window than the lower part. This statement holds 
good, of course, only when no unnatural obstruction prevents. 
The upper part of a window properly exposed to the light has 
a lower horizon Hne, gathers up more reflected light, carries 
it farther across the room, and lets it fall more directly down- 
ward on the work in which the pupils are engaged. 

Height of Windows. — These reasons then enable us to 
give another practical and important direction to architects 
and builders : windows in schoolrooms ought to extend as 
near to the ceiling as the exigencies of construction will permit ; 
and since it is not now prohibitively expensive to employ iron 
and steel beams where needed, windows can extend to within 



58 School Hygiene 

six inches of the ceiling without any necessary danger to the 
strength of the building. The top of the glass surface of the 
window should be at least twelve feet above the floor, thus al- 
lowing eight feet at least as the length of each window. Such 
a position of the windows, contrary to the a priori criticism 
of those who have never looked, gives them a more artistic 
appearance from within the schoolroom than the old-style 
setting, which gives a " spotty effect." 

Unilateral Lighting of Schoolrooms. — The windows 
designed for lighting schoolrooms should be placed on one 
side, and on one side only. The reasons for this direction are 
not obvious to those who have given no serious attention to 
school architecture. When windows open from opposite 
sides of the room, there can be but one line through the room 
along which the light will be equally strong from both sides, 
and this line is sliifting because of the changes in relative 
strength of the light due to the changing position of the sun, 
and other less important factors. In all other parts of the 
schoolroom, the pupils will have to work under the annoyances 
of unequal cross lights, and with the added difficulty that they 
can practically face no part of the room without exposing 
their eyes to the direct rays of light from a window. If one 
happens to sit near the windows placed on his right side, 
and he writes with his right hand, he of course must constantly 
suffer the annoyance and ill effects of having to work in the 
shadow of his hand. Furthermore, where windows are found 
on two sides of a schoolroom, they are usually placed so far 
apart as to introduce wedges of shadow from the walls between 
the windows, and these are often troublesome to those sitting 
near an outer wall. Then, too, with windows on both sides, 
the most of the available blackboard space will have been used 
up, and the spaces left between the windows will probably be 
utilized for blackboards. This will be most disastrous, for the 
eyes looking from a distance toward a blackboard so placed 
cannot see the work without painful and fatiguing adjustments. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 59 

General Ignorance concerning the Laws of Vision. — It is 

almost appalling to know how much ignorance is still abroad 
in our land touching the simplest laws of vision. I had a 
physician, an average country doctor, complain to me about 
unilateral lighting for schools, on the basis, as he claimed, that 
unilateral lighting compelled the children to use but one eye ! 
He thought, as a great many otherwise intelhgent people 
think, that in order for the child to see an object, the light 
from a window must fall directly into his eye and, as it were, 
reflect from his eye to his book. Such people, and the teach- 
ing profession is not free from them, do not adequately realize 
that the only light needed, and used for vision, is that which is 
reflected from the object to which our eyes are directed. 

Placing the Windows. — When unilateral lighting is used, 
and this in my opinion is the only kind of lighting that should 
be used, the windows ought to be placed as far to the rear of 
the room as possible, and the mullions between the windows 
made as narrow as safety of construction will permit. Thick, 
heavy mullions not only obstruct a great amount of light that 
would otherwise enter the schoolroom, but they use up the 
space in the wall so that in order to get a sufficient amount of 
window space, the windows must be carried too far to the 
front. If we consider a wall thirty-two feet long and thirteen 
and one half feet high (one foot higher than a standard room), 
where the windows are not to extend below the four-foot line 
from the floor, we must economize space in order not to carry 
the windows so far to the front of the room. If this is not 
done, many children who happen to sit toward the rear corner 
on the side away from the windows will be exposed to a glar- 
ing Kght every time they lift their eyes from their work, or 
attend to the directions of the teacher from the front of the 
room. 

Suppose, therefore, we enter into a calculation with a view 
of locating the required amount of glass surface as far to the 
rear as the conditions that we have set for ourselves will per- 



6o School Hygiene 

mit. The floor space of the room that we have under considera- 
tion, M\i\ that which, all Ihiiij^s considered, is most satisfactory, 
for granunar schools and larger high school classes, amounts 
to seven hundred and sixty-eight square feet. If, therefore, 
conditions demand one fourth as much glass surface as floor 
surface, our windows nuist, inside the frames and sash, show a 
surface of one hundred and ninety-two square feet. By plac- 
ing the glass four feet from the floor, and extending it to within 
six inches of the ceiling, we have nine feet as the length of the 
windows. Dividing one hundred and ninety-two by nine, we 
fmd that there must be twenty-one and one third feet of the 
thirty-two feet of wall space used for windows. Allowing the 
rear window to approach within eighteen inches of the rear 
wall of the room, allowing twelve inches for the thickness of a 
nudlion, frame, and sash, and making each window three and 
one half feet wide, we lind that six windows, each with glass 
three and one half feet wide, will extend to within four and 
one half feet of the front end of the room, thus practically 
using ui) the whole of the available wall surface. 

It will be noticed that, in this calculation, we have taken a 
room thirteen and one half feet high ; while this is higher than 
it ought to be, it is necessary for unilateral lighting, where 
light conditions demand a ratio of one to four between win- 
dow and floor surface. Under no other ordinary conditions 
can the requisite glass surface be properly placed. Even this 
brings the windows nearer the front end of the room than is 
desirable. 

If the rooms under consideration are on the flrst floor and are 
designed for the primary grades, the windows may be lowered 
six inches, and the ceiling lowered an equal distance, giving the 
same placing as the windows in the room above, designed for 
the upper grades or high schools. 

I have purposely chosen to make the first calculation on the 
basis of one to four; but. as I have remarked elsewhere, it is 
only in badly located school grounds, and especially in the 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 



6i 



northern cities, that this ratio ought to prevail. In the south 
and southwest if there are no mountains or other obstructions 
in the way, a ratio of one to six will prove entirely satisfactory, 
if other conditions justify. Let us therefore make a calcula- 
tion based on this ratio. If, as before, we have seven hundred 
and sixty-eight square feet of floor surface, we must set one 
hundred and twenty-eight square feet of glass. This time, 
making the room twelve and one half feet high, placing the 
lower glass four feet from the floor, we have a window eight 



^'^^^^mmmA ^^w^^^bmJ Lt^mmmmmm^im^ Immw^^mmS ' T 

X 



Fig. 6. — Proper location of windows for conditions named : lower part of the windows, 
four feet above the floor ; distance from floor to ceiling, twelve and one half feet ; top 
of windows, twelve feet above the floor ; windows, three and one half feet wide ; 
muUions (supports between windows), one foot wide ; distance of rear window from 
rear wall, eighteen inches; distance from front end of room to first window, nine 
feet. The cross marks the center of the schoolroom population. 

feet high. Dividing one hundred and twenty-eight by eight, 
we find that we must use sixteen feet of the wall for actual 
glass surface. Again, setting the rear window within one and 
one half feet of the rear wall, making mulHons, frames, and 
sash twelve inches thick from glass to glass, and five windows 
three and one half feet wide, glass measurement, we find that 
we have more than met the one to six requirement and still 
have nine feet of dead wall space in front. The accompanying 
figure will make this clear at a glance. 

Dead Wall Space in Front of Windows. — Some objections 
may be urged against a soHd or bhnd wall of nine feet in front 



62 School Hygiene 

of the windows, and no serious complaint could be made 
against reducing this space a foot or so by making the windows 
narrower and adding one more, or even by lowering the top of 
the windows a couple of inches ; but schoolhouse architects 
and builders, as well as school boards, should be led to see, and 
see clearly, that the only light that is effective in a school- 
room is that which is reflected from the work upon which the 
pupils may be engaged. Hence light from the left is the 
light that is needed. The front row of pupils, when they are 
properly seated in a schoolroom, rarely, if ever, is nearer the 
teacher's end of the room than eight feet. In fact, the front row 
of seats is often placed at least ten feet from the front of the 
room. Thus with a blank wall of even ten feet in front of 
windows, no pupil in the front of the room is badly situated 
with reference to the light ; and those in the rear of the room, 
especially those nearest the inner wall, will be greatly relieved 
from the glare of windows every time their eyes are directed 
toward the front of the room. This position of the windows 
concentrates the light and delivers it upon the desks of the 
pupils, and directly opposite the center of population in the 
room. 

Width of Mullions. — Doubtless one of the first objections 
that builders will urge against this arrangement of windows 
will be that the mullions are too narrrow for adequate support, 
especially if the building is to be two stories high, and this 
figure represents a room on the ground floor. The objection is 
worthy of serious consideration, and if simply brick or stone 
construction is considered, mullions of this width would not 
give safe and adequate support. But years ago Mr. Briggs 
devised a metal muUion which solves this problem and at the 
same time makes it possible to take greater advantage of the 
amount of window space indicated. 

He says : — 

"It is hardly possible, even in the smaller brick buildings, to construct 
with safety the brick piers or mulHons between windows less than twelve 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 63 

inches in width ; in larger structures they need to be sixteen, twenty, 
twenty-four, twenty-eight inches, and sometimes piers of from three to 
four feet are required to obtain sufificient strength. To obviate the heavy 
shadows that these piers must cast, and to obtain the maximtmi strength 
with the minimum construction, I have recently introduced into my 
buildings, with marked success, iron muUions cast with heavy flanges 
or webs. The window frames are bolted directly to these muUions, the 
outer portions of which are made wedge-shaped, running nearly to a 
sharp edge. It will be readily seen that by this simple device very little 
more space is occupied by the supporting muUion or pier than that ac- 
tually required by the frames and weight boxes ; in fact, the saving is so 
great that six windows can be introduced in the same space which would 
be occupied by five, having the ordinary sixteen-inch brick pier between 
them, the expenses in both cases being practically the same." 

He adds : — 

"The strength of the muUions can be regulated by the thickness of the 
shell and web, so that, with little or no change of outside dimensions, 
they can be used to support almost any weight. In small frame buildings 
a similar muUion can be made of hard wood that will be strong enough for 
ordinary purposes."^ 

Since this form of muUion has been adapted to many con- 
ditions by Mr. Briggs, and he has declared each adaptation 
successful, there seems to be no excuse for architects to resist 
further the efforts of schoolmen to group the windows closely 
together. Furthermore, in buildings where walls are not of 
necessity thick and heavy, the same result may be obtained by 
supporting part of the weight from above by using a steel 
beam as a lintel, and thus with the aid of narrow mullions, 
getting adequate and safe support. Others have used the arch 
form of lintel in order to transform the main strain of the weight 
above the windows into a side thrust, and have thus trans- 
ferred the strain more or less to the main walls in front of and 
behind the windows. This, it seems to me, is not advisable, 
especially on account of the necessity of having to encroach 
upon the window surface on both sides due to the curve of the 

^ See Modern American School Buildings, Warren Richard Briggs, pp. 122 f. 



64 



School Hygiene 




Lighting of Schoolhouses 65 

arched form. Mr. Snyder, the distinguished architect who has 
had charge for many years of the school buildings of New 
York City, has used the steel Kntel in many of his largest and 
most successful buildings. By reference to Fig. 8, p. 66, it 
may be seen very readily that in this building he has relied 
almost wholly on the strength of a long steel Hntel to support 
the weight of the walls directly above the windows. This, of 
course, is a very much easier thing to do with a steel-framed 
building than where the main strength must He in brick or 
stone piers. But a combination of metal mulUons, such as 
described by Mr. Briggs, and the metal lintel just referred 
to is entirely feasible, and any architect with a modicum of 
originaHty can easily design sufficient and safe supports so that 
windows may be grouped together as we have indicated. 

Naturally the form and finish of the framing material used 
about the windows will be adjusted to the general form of 
finish used in the building as a whole. 

Added strength might be obtained if there seemed need for it 
by filHng the cavity of the Briggs mullions, after they have been 
put in place and before the upper cap has been put on, with a 
good quahty of cement m^ortar. This, however, appears to be 
unnecessary; at least it has not been mentioned by Mr. Briggs. 

Especial attention ought to be directed to the wedge shape 
of the iron mullion designed by Mr. Briggs. This edge is for 
the outside, and by reason of its beveled form it permits a wider 
gathering in of Hght and eliminates much of the shadow 
otherwise cast by the mullion. 

The Danger of Facing Windows. — There is no excuse at all 
in this day and age for any one to construct a school building 
with windows facing the children, though this was not un- 
common a few years ago. - If any teacher is called on to teach 
in one of these old buildings, of course the thing to do is to 
cover the window permanently with opaque curtains so fas- 
tened to the sash that no beams of Hght can find their way into 
the room. 



66 School Hygiene 

"Breeze Windows." — Neither should there be any win- 
dows built in the rear of a room for purposes of light. But 
in the south and in the hot valleys of the west, where during 
the warm days of spring and fall it is most acceptable to have a 
breeze sweep through the room, two or more windows should 
be built into the rear wall, where it can be done, for the sake 
of such a breeze. The bottoms of these windows should be at 
least eight feet from the floor, and the tops of them should be 
on a level with the windows set for light. The size and propor- 
tion of these windows ought to be made to harmonize with the 
room. The best way to set these windows is to hinge them 
on the lower side and fasten them above with a spring catch. 
The only difficulty that this arrangement introduces, is the 
one of making the windows fit the frames in such a way as to 
prevent beating rains from driving in. This may be done by 
the method used in old French casement windows. The 
advantages of hinging these windows on the lower side are 
several. Hinging permits the placing of a permanent opaque 
shade over the glass, for at no time do we want light from these 
windows to enter the schoolroom, unless it is reflected to the 
ceiling. In the next place, when the window is opened from 
above, it can be adjusted to regulate the amount of draft that 
may come in. Then, too, by proper cords the window may be 
easily opened or closed from the floor. It is advisable to shut 
out all the light from entering the room through these win- 
dows, else the teacher would be seriously troubled with light 
shining directly in her face. The number and size of these 
windows may be regulated to suit the outside appearance, as 
well as the demands of the climate. In buildings showing 
wooden or beamed construction on the interior, stained glass 
of good quality and harmonious coloring set in these small 
rear windows would add to the artistic atmosphere of the 
room ; but stained glass should never be used unless of high 
grade and harmoniously blended. There is nothing more 
tiresome and displeasing than make-believe art. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 67 

In general, if any attempt be made at decoration in these 
windows, a pleasing design of leaded glass will be found most 
successful. We must not forget, however, that the main 
purpose of introducing these windows is for the sake of ventila- 
tion in hot weather, and hence they must all be designed to 
open and close easily, and be so set as to prevent rains from 
driving in about them. 

Orientation. — In the latitude of our country, it is essential, 
if we hope to light the schoolrooms properly, to open as many 
as possible of the windows toward the east or west. The 
east Hght is usually best, the south is most trying and trouble- 
some, the west is good, and the north to be used only for those 
rooms designed for art work in its various forms. 

East Light. — Windows opening toward the east permit 
the early sun to warm and purify the room before school 
hours, and by ten o'clock or an hour after school work has be- 
gun, the direct rays of the sun have almost disappeared from 
the room ; especially is this true during a large part of the 
school year, when the sun's path is south of the equator. 
Therefore, during the rest of the day the window shades may 
be rolled up, and the clear white light of the eastern sky may be 
allowed to flood the room without producing a glare. The 
only disadvantage I can think of in rooms so lighted is this: 
it will necessitate the pupils facing the south in order to get the 
light from the left side, and this orientation puts them to a 
disadvantage in map work. To many this may not seem of 
very great importance, and it is not at all a fatal objection ; 
still, as far as possible, it is wise to use a room where the pupils 
can face the north when maps are being used.^ But, this 
objection aside, in selecting a lot, planning a building, and 

^ Personally I have had a sort of mental twist for geography ever since child- 
hood, because I first used an atlas while I sat facing the south. The distinct 
feeling of unreality and mix up which I had to combat when the top of my map 
pointed to the south, and yet I must call it north, I shall never forget. Even 
to-day I must perform a sort of mental "bucking" process every time I take a 
map, in order to make things seem real. 



68 School Hygiene 

locating it on the lot, the matter of good lighting must play a 
very important part. 

South Light for Classrooms Bad. — I have already said 
that the south light is the most trying and troublesome that 
we can introduce into our classrooms, and this, to many, 
may seem directly opposed to the demand for plenty of Hght, 
since the south light is the strongest during most of the school 
day. The difficulty with the southern exposure is that it is 
almost impossible to keep out the direct sunshine and at the 
same time get sufficient indirect and diffused light into the 
schoolrooms. If the windows in a classroom open toward the 
south, despite all that can be done with ordinary shades or 
blinds, bright rays of the sun will find their way into the room 
and will inevitably dazzle and disturb the eyes of the children, 
as well as those of the teacher. A streak of sunshine across a 
page or a desk at which one is at work is really a serious dis- 
turbance, physically, mentally, and sometimes morally, for 
tired eyes often induce fussy moods. Such rays of light 
cause a strain on the muscles of accommodation, and distract 
the attention. It will generally prove a mistake to say that 
the teacher can regulate the shades so as to prevent all such 
troubles. Even if the schoolroom were equipped with shades 
that would make it possible to filter through sufficient diffused 
light and yet keep back the glare of the direct sunlight, it is 
unsafe to rely upon teachers to regulate them properly. 
Teachers are very busy people, with their chief thought 
centered on lessons and behavior, and it is unfair to expect 
them to keep a constant watch during the whole school day 
upon the shifting rays of the sun, so that the room may be 
furnished with the best and most equitably distributed light. 
It is far more economical and almost invariably safer to pre- 
vent these difficulties by making them impossible. 

South windows are troublesome, especially in the southern 
states, in hot weather ; for on sunny days, in order to keep out 
the heat, teachers very often err by making the rooms too dark. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 



69 



Children may not object and the teacher may feel that she 
has chosen the lesser evil ; still, tired eyes and frequent head- 
aches will result. 

Window Shades Troublesome in Ventilation. — I desire at 
this point to call attention to another practical difficulty that 
often enters here. In those buildings depending upon win- 
dows for ventilation, 
it is frequently very T^;^^!^":! 
difficult, with shades ^— " ■*^-»-"-',. 
drawn, to effect sat- 
isfactory ventilation, 
especially where we 
have windows on but 
one side of the room. 
What can you do to 
cut out the direct 
sunshine and at the 
same time to permit 
the air to enter un- 
hindered ? Venetian 
blinds and sliding 
shutters have been rec- 
ommended, and these 
have been introduced 
into many school build- 
ings. They will often 
prove very satisfactory 
in homes, but they do 
not prove permanently 
satisfactory for schools. 
Venetian bhnds are 
noisy when the breeze 
enters, they cut out the best Hght when they are gathered 
together at the top of the window, they often permit pen- 
cils of light through chinks, and are rarely adjusted to meet 




Fig. 9. — The Draper window shade. This simple 
shade may be easily adjusted to any part of the 
window. 



70 School Hygiene 

exact demands and conditions. They are almost invariably 
fastened to the top of the window, so that in order to shut out 
sunshine at the bottom of the window they must be pulled 
down over the whole window surface. They get out of order 
easily, and any furniture or apparatus that gets out of order 
quickly balks a woman teacher, for it is a rare woman who knows 
how to fix such things, or even has sufficient faith to try. But 
if the so-called folding Venetian blinds will not suffice to regu- 
late properly the fight in windows opening toward the south, it 
will be much more difficult to keep sliding shutters at the right 
place. They either stick, or get loose and slide down by rea- 
son of their own weight ; they impede ventilation more than 
any other form of blind used, and are altogether beyond the 
teacher's control. These objections are not theoretical ones, 
but practical difficulties. Years of experience in teaching 
and in supervising teachers where such conditions existed 
enable me to state these objections unreservedly. I have 
never seen a single classroom in our country properly lighted 
throughout a sunny day, when it depended on light from south 
windows. Professor Foster of Breslau once said : — 

"No curtains have yet been invented which will keep back the direct 
rays of the sun and at the same time let the diffused Hght of the clear sky 
pass through. Ground glass has been recommended, but this is too daz- 
zling and blinding in the direct rays of the sun, and during cloudy days it 
intercepts too much light." 

Rowe says : — 

"Much better results may be obtained by use of the Venetian blinds 
than with any other screen for the sun " ; but he thinks " their expensive- 
ness, together with a tendency to collect dust and get out of order, will 
preclude the general use they might otherwise have. I know of no 
successful inside blinds adapted to school uses." ^ 

This digression on shades and blinds is necessary in order 
to present clearly the difficulties incident to a dependence on 

1 See The Lighting of Schoolrooms, Stuart H. Rowe. Longmans, 1904. p. 51. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 71 

south light for schoolrooms. Returning, then, to windows 
with a south exposure, there is still another difficulty, though 
this may be easily overcome. In school buildings warmed 
from a central heating plant either by steam or hot air, when 
rooms lighted by south windows are warm and comfortable, 
the same steam pressure and radiating surface will not suffice 
to keep the rooms on the north or the west at the same tem- 
perature. Unless, therefore, automatic regulators are in- 
stalled, the teacher in the south room will be complaining of 
the heat, while the one in a corresponding room to the north 
or west will be grumbUng because of the cold. 

West Light. — Schoolrooms receiving hght from the west 
are often more satisfactory in hot cHmates for the primary 
grades than those receiving light from the east, because of the 
fact that the day's session for these classes ends before the 
sun is sufficiently low in the horizon to cause any serious dis- 
turbance from direct sunlight streaming into the room. This 
practically ehminates the problem of shades in these rooms ; 
for after school hours it is altogether advisable to allow the sun 
to beat in and purify the room. Sunlight is the most effective 
disinfectant known to science. Then, too, this will enable 
those who begin geography to adjust the points of the compass 
to the demands of maps, for the pupils in rooms with west 
light will sit facing the north. But rooms with a west ex- 
posure are not on the whole so satisfactory for the upper grades 
as those on the east. Especially is this true in the hotter 
parts of our country ; for during warm afternoons these rooms 
are quite uncomfortable from two o'clock until school is dis- 
missed. 

North Light. — The light entering windows from the north 
is well diffused, but for a given amount of glass surface is 
much weaker than that from the other cardinal points of the 
compass. When, therefore, a school building is planned, as 
few rooms should receive north light as possible. For high 
schools, rooms designed especially for art work may well 



72 School Hygiene 

receive the north light. Manual training rooms, and chemical 
laboratories also, may, with no serious disatl vantage other than 
lack of warmth and the purifying influence of sunlight, be 
constructed to receive the north light. But it is a safe rule, in 
planning school buildings, to get as many classrooms facing 
the east or west as possil)le ; utilize the space on the south for 
libraries, offices, physical laboratories, and biological labora- 
tories, and that on the north for drawing, manual training, 
and domestic science laboratories. 

The reader who has gone through these details of lighting 
will now understand that the way to avoid many difficulties is 
to forestall them before a schoolhouse is planned, or at least 
before the lot is selected or purchased. Many times I have 
been called into consultation with scliool l)oards to help with 
plans for buildings, where it was impossible to be of any service, 
notwithstanding the fact that the proposed plans were almost 
totally wrong. I'vlaborate plans, it may be, had been made to 
construct a building to occupy a lot barely wide enough to 
receive it, and where the light for the majority of the rooms 
must of necessity come from the north and south. Take, for 
example, this situation within the author's experience. A lot 
ninety feet wide by one hundred and sixty feet deep is situ- 
ated in the middle of a block. It is of great practical impor- 
tance whether this lot opens toward the east or west or whether 
it opens to the north or south. As there is but one street front- 
age, the main entrance must be placed there. Now suppose 
this opening is toward the east, then, of necessity, some of the 
best classroom space in the building must be sacrificed, and 
generally the architect will either be led to depend on north and 
south light for a majority of the rooms, or else he will crowd 
the frontage to its very Umits. If the latter plan is chosen, he 
may get, in a two-story building, four rooms with- cast light 
and four rooms with west light ; but all other rooms must 
have north or south light, and will receive this from the nar- 
row side of the room, or else the middle rooms will be too big 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 73 

for ordinary use. Without going into further detailed dis- 
cussion, it will be readily seen by those who have undertaken 
to make plans for a modern school building that if this lot 
opened to the north or south, it would be a great deal easier to 
get proper lighting, to narrow the building to suit the lot, to 
economize in construction, and in almost every way to get 
better plans. Such problems as these ought never to arise, 
for it is almost criminal to forget the needs of child life so far as 
even to think of locating a large school building of sixteen class- 
rooms on a lot where absolutely no room can be spared for 
play, where the outlook from classroom windows would per- 
chance be on chicken coops, tangled clotheslines, and back- 
yard landscapes in general. Far better locate the school 
building a mile out, if need be, where there will be plenty of 
room. 

Light from Other Directions. — Up to this point nothing has 
been said with reference to the advisability of facing a school 
building at an angle of forty-five degrees with a line running 
north and south. If the windows face toward the northeast 
and southwest, practically every room in the building would 
receive a sunning each clear day, and no room would be neces- 
sarily deprived of a due amount of light. But there are many 
disadvantages in such an orientation, and it will be well to 
consider them briefly. 

First and foremost, it would usually place a building in an 
awkward position on the lot ; for, except in special locations, 
land is surveyed, plotted, and sold with reference to the cardinal 
points of the compass. For the same reason a school building 
so placed would not, other things being equal, present a satis- 
factory appearance from the street or roadway. True, this 
last objection could be practically overcome by intelligent 
landscape gardening ; but every one knows that it is likely 
to be a long time before opportunities for much of this delight- 
ful work will be offered to school boards. 

But suppose the rooms were made to face southeast and 



74 School Hygiene 

northwest, what then? Those rooms facing toward the 
southeast would be greatly troubled by the long-continued 
exposure to the direct rays of the sun. It would be necessary 
to intercept this direct sunhght during most of the school day, 
and we have already seen how difficult this is, if we allow for 
the entrance of sufficient light to satisfy the hygienic demands 
of vision. Where the main axis of the building is from south- 
east to northwest, those rooms whose windows would face 
to the southwest would receive the direct rays of the sun 
during practically the whole of the afternoon session. Here 
the same difficulty with reference to direct sunlight would be 
met as before, and the added disturbance due to the greater 
intensity of the afternoon temperature. Furthermore orienta- 
tion along either of these axes would be likely to introduce a 
greater inequality of light in the various rooms than would 
come from building along a north and south line. Aside 
from conditions due to irregular-shaped lots, crooked streets, 
local obstructions, etc., the general rule for orientation in 
our country is to build a schoolhouse with its main axis 
running from north to south, in order that the classrooms, 
as far as possible, may be suppUed with light from the east 
or west. 

Ribbed or Prism Glass. — The problem of hghting rooms too 
wide for the height of windows, or those situated where suf- 
ficient window surface cannot be obtained, or those too close to 
tall buildings or neighboring trees, has been greatly simpHfied 
in recent years by the use of ribbed or prismatic glass. It has 
been used most extensively in business houses, such as stores, 
where deep rooms must get all their Kght from restricted front- 
age. This glass is not very expensive, and when set high up in 
a window, increases and diffuses the hght in a very helpful 
way. It is not generally advisable to set such glass in the 
lower part of the windows of schoolrooms, on account of the 
glare produced. But for basements, dark hallways, toilet 
rooms, and closets such glass is especially valuable. For 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 75 

regular classrooms, as I have suggested, it is most satisfactory 
when placed in the upper half of the windows. There are 
now many dark and gloomy schoolrooms in daily use which 
could be easily transformed into well-Hghted, cheerful rooms, 
if those who manage such schools knew of the benefit of ribbed 
glass, and were shown that it would be comparatively inex- 
pensive to substitute it for the ordinary glass. Let those who 
doubt and those who are anxious to serve the children visit 
some store in the nearest city that makes use of this glass and 
see for themselves. 

Artificial Lighting. — Because of the situation of our country 
with reference to latitude, comparatively few of our pubHc 
schools have heretofore needed artificial lighting during the 
day session. This, therefore, has not been a serious problem 
with us. But as evening schools multiply, and as school 
buildings come to be used more and more after school hours for 
social and educational undertakings, it is rapidly becoming 
necessary to give this phase of school equipment more con- 
sideration. It is highly advisable, therefore, that all plans for 
high schools, manual training schools, and all other school 
buildings likely to need either power or light should make 
provision for electric wiring and for such fixtures as are neces- 
sary for immediate use. It is not only difl&cult to wire a build- 
ing safely and acceptably after it has been built, but it is also 
more expensive. For the same reasons gas pipes ought to be 
installed, for progress is rapid nowadays, and good school- 
houses ought to last a hundred years or more. 

Electric Light and Gas Light Contrasted. — Electric light- 
ing is much to be preferred to gas, even though the new methods 
of handhng gas flames insure good Hght. Electric lights give 
out but little heat, and release no bad odor or noxious gases. 
They reduce the danger from fires, are far more easily and 
quickly hghted, require less attention, and offer no dangers 
from leakage or contamination of any sort. This cannot be 
said of gas Ughts under the most favorable conditions yet 



76 



School Hygiene 



devised. Clay gives the following table,^ prepared by Profes- 
sor Lewes, which shows the comparative hygienic effect of 
illumination per unit of light. 





Carbonic 

Acid 
Evolved 


Moisture 
Evolved 


Oxygen 
removed 
from Air 


Heat 
Produced 


Acetylene 

Coal gas, flat flame .... 

Coal gas, mantle 

Petroleum, large lamp . . . 


lOO 

480 

45 

995 


ICO 

1470 
230 

700 


100 

520 

62 

498 


100 
796 

87 
246 



But electric lights are hard on the eyes, particularly when the 
filaments are visible. It is necessary, therefore, to shield the 
eyes from these by ground-glass bulbs, or by some form of 
refractive and dispersing globes surrounding the bulbs. The 
chief objection to the ground-glass bulb arises from the fact 
that it permits only about 50 per cent of the hght to pass 
through. 

As the result of some extended experiments by Mr. B. B. 
Hatch, Electrical Engineer for the Schoolhouse Commission 
of Boston, it was found that for direct lighting — 

"the most satisfactory results were obtained from nine thirty-six 
candle-power, forty-watt Tungsten lamps, each equipped with the diffus- 
ing prismatic reflector shown in the accompanying cut. These shades 
are constructed of prismatic glass coated on the outer or inner surface 
with a white enamel." He arranged these lights in three rows running 
parallel to the rows of the desks, and had three lights in each row. He 
found also that by locating these lamps ten feet six inches above the 
floor, and in such positions as to throw the center of light distribution 
"shghtly to the left of the middle of the room when facing the teacher's 
desk," he got an illumination of " 2.5 candle feet at every desk." He adds 
that "the diffusing quality of these shades is so great that the candle- foot 
illumination on the desk directly below one of the lamps was appreciably 
no greater than the illumination on the desk on any one corner." 

^ Set Modern School Buildings, Ye\\x C\3.y, London, 1902, p. 118. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 



77 



Through the courtesy of the School Committee, I have per- 
mission to reproduce the illustration of this lamp shade and 
fixture, and also a plan of the schoolroom, showing the exact 
location of these lamps. 

Various forms of holophanes have been used, and the best 
of these give good light dispersion and at the 
same time shield the eyes from the glare of 
the globes. The chief thing, however, for 
consideration in preparing plans for wiring 
schoolrooms, assembly halls, and other rooms 
used for like purposes is to see that the wires 
are properly placed and that switches are con- 
veniently arranged both for power and Hghts. 

Acetylene for Country and Village Schools. 
— In villages and country districts not yet 
suppHed with an electric lighting system, 
acetylene lighting has proved very helpful. 
This gas, which is made by bringing calcium 
carbide into contact with water, gives when 
Hghted a brilliant white light and burns quite 
regularly. It is not expensive to install such 
plants, and where a comparatively cheap and 
a very effective gas illuminant is needed, 
this form is to be recommended. It has, 
however, the disadvantages and most of the 
dangers of such luminants. 

Conclusion from Experiments in Boston. — 
The experiments of Mr. Hatch referred to 
above appear in the report made by a special committee 
appointed to consider the matter of artifical illumination of 
schoolrooms, and their color scheme. This committee was 
composed of three ocuhsts and two electricians, and their 
report is a model worthy of imitation. They give as a part 
of their conclusions touching the general subject of artificial 
illumination the following points : — 




Fig. io. — Tungsten 
lamp, shade, and 
supporting fixture. 
A good light for 
night schools. 
From Boston 
School Document 
No. 14, 1907. By 
permission of the 
School Board. 



78 



School Hygiene 




Plan of Standard School-room, Showing Location of Lights. 



Fig. II. — From Boston School Document No. 14, 1907. By permission of the School 

Board. 



Lighting oj Schoolhouses 79 

"The committee is of the opinion that for schoolroom lighting there 
are certain serious disadvantages inseparable from systems in which in- 
direct light preponderates. 

-J.'ii) Indirect light produces the unfortunate psychological effect of 
insufficient illumination. 

"(2) Recently published experiments in the Illuminating Engineer 
of October, 1907, point to the fact that with indirect illumination the 
amoxmt of light for comfort in reading must be 65 per cent greater than 
with direct. 

,^"(3) Indirect light is an abnormal form of lighting, seldom or never 
to be found in nature, to which the eye is imaccustomed. 
»^ " (4) With it we lose the shadows by which we judge distance and 
relief. 

-— " (5) The illumination of surrounding objects and that of the work 
on the desk are the same, while experience has shown that, whereas it is 
unmse to light the work greatly in excess of surrounding objects, a small 
amount of superior illumination makes for comfort. 

" (6) It is conceivable that light reflected from the ceiling and coloured 
surfaces may undergo some change interfering with its efficiency. 

"It will be seen that £he problems presented are many and difficult, 
but the general requirements^ schoolroom illumination may be summed 
up as follows : — 

" (i) The Hght should be producN^ith as little contamination of the 
air as possible. "\ 

" (2) The heat production should be low. 

" (3) The light should not be rich in the rays of the spectrum which 
are irritating to the eye. 

" (4) A steady light is indispensable and the lamps shoidd not be 
subject to rapid deterioration. 

" (5) The light should be well diffused so as to secure uniform illumi- 
nation throughout the room. 

"(6) It should be properly shaded so as to prevent points of great 
brilliancy from coming within the field of vision, and to avoid annoying 
and disturbing shadows from falling on the work. For this latter purpose 
the proper location of the fixtures is of the greatest importance. 

" (7) The amount of light necessary varies according to the purpose for 
which it is required. More is necessary for fine work than for the ordi- 
nary class exercises. 

" (8) The cost of installation and maintenance should be moderate. 

" (9) The fixtiires should be of durable construction and easy to clean 
and repair. 

" (10) In considering the color of the walls, the daylight illumination 



8o School llyglcm' 

must Im" takru into iiccoiinl. I'oi IIk- Iniglit, sumiy robins a very liRlit 
gHTii i« proImMy (lio lu'sl sluulr. I''i>r Ihr tlarkcr rooms a li^lil biilT. 

" ( 1 1) TIk* t filiiin should lie white «>r slij^litly tinted. 

"(i.') llic windows should he provided willi shades lor exc luthii^; tho 
(lireil niys «>! tlie sun and ditT\isin^ the lif^ht throu^liout tin- room. 

"(i,<) The woodwork sliouM he ol a li^lit (•oh)r sneli as tliat of natural 
wood I'nder no t irt umstauits are dark walls and woo(lwt>rk permis- 
sible." ' 

Color of <ho Walls of Schoolrooms. — Sonir y*':""s ii^o the 
S( hooj l)();uil ol New \o\\ ('ily (•mployed ;i CDmmithH' con- 
sisliiir, ol three pioiwiiienl oeulisls to e\;imiiie the coior.s oi the 
Willis ol the S( lioolrooins in (lial tily ;uul lo rei)ort to llu' 
hoard I'eeoiwinciulalioiis as lo [\\c l)(>s( <()lor scheines to use in 
selioolrooiiis lo eonstMve li}!;lit ami lo j^'^ive a phMsiiif^ olTect. 
Tiu' essenliais ol this report aic here given : " A li}!;hl hulT 
lint lor lh(> walls has proved (o he the most salisfaetory to the 
eyes ol' lea* hiMS and pui)ils. The (jiiaiitity of Hght in a. room 
is j;reatl>' modilied hy the eolor o{ [\\v walls. 'V\\v red end of 
till' spei hunt should neviM' he ehosen in the i)aintinj; or dee- 
oralinj^ ol sehoohooius, as nuu h lij;ht is K)st hy the employ- 
nuiil ol I lu'se colors. The lij;hhMand most delicate shades of 
yellow or j';ra>' should he i hosiM\. The larji;e ptMientage of 
wall space olten oicupii>d hy hiaikhoartis causi's much Kvss o{ 
lijj;hl l'\>r this reason lij;;ht i'oK>red wtnxls shouKI he selected 
for the Sihool furniture aiul for thi> wtuxlwork used in the 
construction o{ surhase. doiMS, aiul windows. It lias seemeil 
t(» your Comntittee that thi" woixlwork in the schoolroiims 
shouhl ha\'e a natural linish with a dull surface, in order to 
rciluce tlu> rellection of lij^ht to a minimum, ami tiierefort^ it 
should imt hi" \arnishiul. Hut I he supiMintendent of school 
huildin^s. Mr. Snyder, in a letter to the chairman of your 
Conunittee, has called attention to the fait that the BoiU\l 
t>f Ihwlth ohjects to wotnl surfaces which wxc not treated in 
sinh a manner as {o he cajiahli^ o{ a thorough cleansing with a 

* Ktpott of Ike Hikooi Commitlfc Boston, 1007. pp. 5-7. 



Lighting of Schoolhouses 8i 

damp cloth. This objection is vahd, and would be difficult 
to overcome in a non varnished surface." ^ 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Measure accurately the gain in light in a school where windows reach 
to the ceiling, over one where windows are a foot lower, other conditions 
being equal. 

2. Determine by careful observation and experiment whether the state- 
ments made concerning the disadvantages of south light for school- 
rooms are juslifuible. 

3. Determine by careful experiment the best color for schoolroom 
furniture, from the point of view of the hygiene of vision. 

4. Devise a simple method of covering up blackl)()ar(ls when not used, 
so as to determine whether they are really "menaces to the eyes of chil- 
dren," through their power to absorb much light. 

5. Would it be well to introduce into our schoolhouse construction 
greater use of glass in the roofs? Determine the relative cost of such 
glazing, the advantages and disadvantages to the children. 

6. How may we overcome the persistent refusal of many architects to 
locate the windows in our schoolrooms properly ? 

7. Determine by experiment the value of prism glass for hallways, 
basement rooms, and other parts of buildings, frequently poorly lighted. 

8. Determine the comparative effects of illuminating a schoolroom 
for night classes, by the use of the different kinds of illuminants, such as 
gas and electricity, with the various sorts of burners and globes in use. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

BuRNHAM, W. H. Outlines of School Hygiene. Pedagogical Seminary, 

v. 2, pp. 9-71. 
Marshall and Rolpii. Artificial Lighting of Schoolrooms. Illuminating 

Engineer, v. 3, pp. 258-264. 
RowE, S. H. The Lighting of Schoolrooms. New York, 1904. 94 pp. 
Standish, Myles. Artificial Illumination of Schoolrooms. School 

Hygiene, v. i, pp. 74-78. 

* Educational Review, Vol, 15, pp. 98-99. 



CTTAPTER V 



SCHOOL DESKS 



TiiF.RK liMS \)vcu SO miuli written on [he hygienic rcquirc- 
nuMitst*! school di'sks th;il oneirics loalh to ;itl;uk this ques- 
lioii, cspt'iially when \\c scrs that, while imuli process has 
\)vru made, some ruiulanu'utal ri'ijiiiremiMits luivi' siariely 
been tonelu'd. 

The Chief Defect of School Desks. It seems an in(iisi)ut- 
ahle l;u I that the eiii(>l",or at least the most S(Mious, defect of the 
Jivera|j;c> school desk is that il subjects the pupil to a posture 
that fosters spina.! curvature, cramped chest, and defective 
vision. It is projier, therefore, to go at one c> to llu> majcu" 
detc-c t and, if possible, determine what it is and how to 
remedy it. 

Desks nre too Flat. I believe the chief defect in the desks 
now on the maikel is that the desk top is loo Hat. 1 know very 

well that this thesis must \)v up- 
held by i::,ooi.\ reasons, or it will 
fail of acc-eplancc\ May 1 ask 
the readcM- to perform a. simple 
("xiHMiment at this point, so that 
he may have at hand some per 
sonal (Experience upon which to 
base his tinal conclusion. ImiuI 
a. comfortable chair, one in which 
you may sit erect but not um\aturally so. and then hold a book 
before you in such a position and at such a dislaiice that you 
may read the lines most clearly a>ul easily. After tinding the 
position of the* book as you prefer it, note the distance that the 
page is from the" eyes (1 am assun\ing that the experimenter 

8a 




k sliown ill 



School Desks 



83 



has normal vision) and the angle that the page makes with the 
line of vision, that is, the straight line drawn from the eye to 
the book. After conscientiously recording this distance and 
this angle for yourself, try llie same experiment with all the 
pujiils of your class. Have them sit in a natural and com- 
fortably erect position at their (li>sks. Then ask them to hold 
their books in such a ])osition lh:it they can read most readily 
and easily, and 
then, while they 
are so situaicd, 
note, again, the 
two points above 
mentioned. This 
may be quickly 
done by moving 
down a side aisle 
and noting the 
regularity of the 
demands made 
on the position 
of the book. 
Note es|)ecially 
the re hit i ve 
slants of the 
books and the 

desk tops. Assuming that the experiment has been carried 
out as directed, the result may now be defmitely stated : the 
books will practically be at a right angle to the line of vision, 
and at an angle of slightly more than forty-live degrees to a 
line i)arallel with the floor, and approximately fifteen inches 
from the eyes of all who have normal vision. And now you 
ask, what do these facts mean, and what have they to do 
with the hygiene of school desks? 

Unless desk tops are set at the i)roper angle, children will not, 
and cannot, sit erect to do their work. Theoretically, one 




I'lC. 13. 



7^:' 



Adjustable iliair ami (k'slc. t)nc of tlic best 
Amc'ricaii desks. 



H.l 



S( //(>(>/ llyvinir 




iiii)',lil ;.:i\' lli.il il llicsc ;ir<' llic iiotiniil (Iciii.i lids for vision, 
(liildicn should Ix- l.iiijdil lo hold llicir hook;, so. Miit sup- 
pose yoii I ry il loi ten iiiiimlcs or .1 li.dl hour. ( )i t (tuisc yt)U 
will now sec vvhcic I he dilli(idl\ lies (hildicu's .iiins }j;r()W 
\V(;ii V ;iud Ihty ( .innol hold Ihcii hooks :;o ;is lo )',('l I he piopcr 
.•iu)',lr ol vision lor more Ihan ;i, very shorl lime. So I he hooks 
;iic pul on I he desk, ;ind I he (children's hacks arc hcnl , in order 
lo hiih)', ihc line ol \ i .ion in Ilic same rclalivc position as il 
was when lh(\ sal creel and held ihcii' hooks 
in I he I )osil ion demanded. 

\ On nia\ (ouniiand Iheni lo sil ei('( I as 
ollen as you Ihink ol il, hnl Ihey will «»i)ey, 
and (an ohe\', onl\ nionienlariU'. The ( hil- 
dien will hend o\( i Iheir woik (la\' alter day, 
unless we de\ise a piailitahle desk lop thai 
will luu (■ssitiilc eic(l, normal pttsture lor all 
their woik. In other woids, il we e\pe( t lo 
lea( h (un < hiMren to hahilnate IheniseKcs lo 
the piitper poslmc in :.( hool, we nnisl adjust 
Iheii desk top:, oi some ot hei mean, ol holdiufi; I h(>ir hooks, 
at anani'le ol appio\ima tel\ lorl \ li\ c <le)'ices wit h Ihelloor 
line. In aildition, the desk must he made in such way that 
(he hook (in he hiouj^hl within lourleiMi to sixte(Mi inches ol" 
Ihc c\'cs and \(l rest on the desk. This nnist he done, or the 
pupil will ha\c to lean lorward, awa\ Irom Ihc sujiport ol 
(he hack ol the seat llere, then, are two liindainenlal kow 
ditionslor.i h\i'ieni( dci.k, and helore we have" an\' ii<',ht lo 
e\pe( I I hildren to mainl.iin the proper |)os(ure in siliooi, 
we nnist oxcKome the dilluultics sni'.i'.cstcd in makinj'; such a. 
S( hool desk. Mow ollen a lio\ will slide down into his seal, 
rest his head on the h.n k ol the hemh, and stand his hook 
(TcmI on Ihc liont vAyy ol the desk It is ea,s\- to tall him 
thouj'Jillcss and to (dinmand him to ^;il crci t , possihU to 
rcpi'in\and him in some more or less se\ ere wa\' ; hut the lad 
is, Ihc hoN' is ic.dU tixinr. lo oveicome the ditlii iilties and de 



Imo. I I 



School Desks 



85 



fccts ill the desk furnished him. The fault lies not with him 
so nuicli ;is with the demands that we make wynm him. 

What has been said concerning the use of the book in its 
relation to proper posture will largely apply to written work. 
If the pupil writes on a flat desk, he will stoo]) over, for he can- 
not see his work most easily unless he does so. A teacher may 
command and exhort her pupils to maintain a healthful 
posture and they may attempt to obey, but as soon as their 
attention is withdrawn from their i)osture to their work, the 
faulty i)ositiou will 
again unconsciously 
reappear, because 
the demands of clear 
vision are more ])er- 
sistently command- 
ing than the advice 
of any teacher. 

Practical Difficul- 
ties. Of course the 
construction of such 
a desk is difficult 
even if hygiene re- 
cjuires it. 'I 'he first 
criticism every prac- 
tical teacher would 
present on this theo- 
retical desk is (his : "The books and the papers would slide off 
the desk." This criticism strikes at a real difficully, l)ut some 
one must overcome it, or we shall never have wJiat can be 
properly called a hygienic desk for school children. Add tot his 
another criticism: "It would be difficult to write on a desk 
to}) so stee[) as the one suggested, l)ecausc the ink would not 
flow properly from the pen." Frankly, this is another prac- 
tical difficulty, but it must be overcome, else children will 
persist in bending over their writing work to the detriment of 




Fig. 15. — A form of slccl (U-sk. 



86 School Hygiene 

natural, normal development. Is it possible to make a school 
desk to meet these fundamental requirements? 

The Writing Desks of Ancient Scholars. — Before printing 
was invented, and for many years afterward, practically all the 
books written were copied and recopied by the monks in the 
various monasteries of Europe. This was the day of the most 
artistic pen work that the world has ever seen. Day after 
day scholars and copyists wrote and illuminated the books 
of the Middle Ages from the manuscripts of ancient times. 
Pictures of the desks that they used indicate to what extent 
they had to develop the form of desks to make it possible for 
them to do this work, even " for the glory of God." 

Let us study the desk shown in the accompanying cut 
(Fig. 1 6). It represents St. Matthew writing his gospel as 
dictated by the Holy Spirit, here represented as an angel. 
It is taken from a photograph of an illuminated page from a 
Bible, and was drawn by a French monk about 1460. The 
original is now in the author's possession, and is one of the 
excellent examples of illumination. The photograph gives no 
adequate conception of its beauty, for its rich coloring and 
delicate decorations cannot be reproduced. But its chief 
interest in this connection lies in the illustration of the desk. 
Note first that it would be next to impossible for one to write 
at this desk without sitting erect. The angle that the board 
makes with the seat of the chair is approximately fifty de- 
grees. Note the string fastened to the board and the chair 
post to regulate this angle and to hold the board in place. 
The scroll hangs over the board and there are weights to hold 
it in place. The inkhorns are placed on the right side, and 
everything connected with the drawing indicates that it was 
made to represent a real writing desk. If the reader is in doubt 
at this point, and has access to John Willis Clark's interest- 
ing book entitled The Care of Books, he will find a number of 
reproductions representing such desks. Nearly all of these 
show a slant of the desk top equal to the one in the cut here 



W^i 




Fig. i6. — A writing desk used by monks of the Middle Ages. From an illumination 
made by a French monk about 1460. It represents Matthew writing his gospel. 



School Desks 87 

presented. I made a somewhat extended study of illumina- 
tions of like character in Germany, England, and France, and 
I am sure that this one is quite typical. 

I have introduced this cut and the discussion concerning it 
to show that flat desks are not old but new, and that written 
work may be well done on these slanting desks, for, as remarked 
above, the best writing that the world has ever seen was done 
on them and done with pens not as good as those we have 
to-day. 

Does Rapid Writing require Flatter Desks than this One ? 
— It may be urged as another objection that a desk with a 
slant of forty-five degrees would necessitate slow writing. 
Probably there is an advantage in rapidity in writing on a 
comparatively flat surface ; but this seems of shght importance 
in teaching children to write. There is sHght need now for 
rapid penmen since most business correspondence is done with 
typewriters. The stenographer must learn to write rapidly, 
but his writing is of an entirely different character. Besides, 
it is not clear that even these prefer a flat surface for their 
notebooks. The stenographers of the United States Congress 
often do their rapid work while standing, holding their note- 
books at the angle that I am demanding, and generally use 
pens. 

Good Writing with a Pen may be done at this Angle. — 
There is no doubt that good writing may be done with a pen 
at an angle that will require the pupils to sit erect. However, 
most of the written work in school is done with a pencil. 
The average program does not devote more than twenty to 
twenty-five minutes a day for each pupil above the first grade 
for writing with pen and ink, and that amount is usually left 
off after the sixth grade has been reached. It is true that 
the writing of ancient times was more like the print of modern 
times, for it was neither so cursive nor so slanting as modern 
script. It was more like what is now known as vertical 
script, with less attempt at spacing and connections. This 



88 School Hygiene 

may or may not be a real objection, for there are many special- 
ists in school hygiene who maintain that oval vertical writ- 
ing is better for children than a slanting angular script. One 
thing is true, it is much easier to read, and necessitates a 
better posture than slanting script. 

In free-hand drawing, it is always better to have a desk top 
with this slant than a flat one or one with ten or fifteen 
degrees slant. The easel at which the artist works is always 
at a greater angle than forty-five degrees. 

Other important requisites for school desks are the follow- 
ing:— 

The Desk Top must be at the Right Distance from the 
Eyes. — If the desk is too low for the pupil or too far removed 
from his body when he sits properly resting against the back 
of the chair or seat, then he will have to bend over, or move 
forward so as to adjust his vision to the work in hand. It 
has been given as a general rule that the desk top must over- 
hang the front of the seat about two inches. This rule will 
hold true only when the seat is the proper width from front 
to back, and when the desk top has the proper slant. 

Plus and Minus Distance of Desk Top. — This position is 
technically known as minus distance. That is to say, if a 
vertical line be dropped from the edge of the desk top nearer 
the pupil, it ought to strike the seat about two inches from the 
outer edge. If it fell to the floor without touching the front 
edge of the seat, it would mark a plus distance. This is an 
important rule and, even with a desk not of the proper slant for 
school children, great care should be taken to set them for a 
minus distance. It is safe to say that in most villages and 
country schools this rule is seldom followed, simply because no 
one who knows is ready to supervise the placing of desks. 
Janitors or carpenters should be instructed on placing desks, 
but they are rarely so instructed. 

The Height of the Desk Top from the Floor. — The proper 
height of the desk will depend on two conditions : the height 



School Desks 89 

of the child and the support for the child's feet. In some 
European countries, notably Germany, a platform under the 
benches serves to lift the children's feet above the floor. In 
America it is a general rule for the benches to be made so that 
the child's feet may rest on the floor, and we may count on 
this as the basis of measurement. 

A safe rule for teachers to follow in determining the proper 
height of the desk top for a given child in elementary grade is 
to make the front edge as high as three sevenths the height of 
the child, plus an inch. For the primary grades the rule 
requires that not more than a half inch be added. This will 
give approximately the right height, but this ratio must be 
varied to suit special cases, as some children are not of 
normal proportion in relative length of limbs and trunk. If 
a teacher will send her class to the blackboard and direct each 
child to write his name higher than the level of his head, and 
then face about, standing erect with heels against the wall, 
she can pass along quickly, making a mark on the board under 
each name and on a level with the top of the head, and by 
measuring the height of the pupils, the proper height of the 
edge of the desk top above the floor may be approximately 
determined for each. This may be done as many times 
through the year as the growth of the children would necessi- 
tate. It ought to be done at least four times, for it will require 
little time and will serve to prevent carelessness on this im- 
portant point. 

Adjustable Desks. — Some teachers, indeed most teachers 
in rural schools, will not be able to follow the rule for height 
of desk top for the simple reason that the desks furnished can- 
not be adjusted. Most rural schools are furnished with not 
more than three sizes of desks, and if these do not fit the pupils, 
little can be done. It is an advantage for rural teachers to 
make these measurements, even though they may know that 
the benches are not adjustable, and are not of proper sizes to 
suit. They will in this way become conscious of what they 



90 



School Hygiene 



need and will not only strive to make the best assignments 
possible with the desks at their disposal, but, consciously or 
unconsciously, they will strive to get better desks furnished, 
and they will know more definitely what they need. 

All Desks and Seats should be Adjustable. — All desks and 
seats of the better grades are now so constructed that each 
may be adjusted in height independently of the other. This 

gives the teacher a 
chance to make such 
adjustments from 
time to time as the 
growth of the child 
may demand. More- 
over, it makes it pos- 
sible for all children, 
whether typical or 
atypical, to be fitted 
with desks and seats 
suited to their needs. 
This necessitates 
that the seats should 
be disconnected from 
the desks ; other- 

FiG. 17. — A popular form of a German desk, which is wicp \\\e nrODCr ad- 
designed for use sitting or standing. , ' r" r" 

justment of the seat 
for one child might disarrange the desk for the pupil who sits 
immediately behind him. If a seat is fastened to the desk 
behind, it introduces another trouble. Every movement of 
the child in front tends to interrupt by jarrings and shak- 
ings the work of the child behind. For several reasons it is, 
therefore, better to have the desks and seats built separately, 
so that each may be adjusted independently. 

Height of Seat above the Floor. — The old-time school bench 
was made of a split log adzed comparatively smooth on the 
flat side and set on pegs, had no back, and generally the pegs 




School Desks 



91 



were too long to accommodate the bench to the children in a 
proper way. Pupils in those days sat with their feet out of 
reach of the floor, and these difficulties have not been wholly 
remedied. Great numbers of modern children, while not 
sitting on spHt logs without back rests, are still suspended on 
high benches. While this condition is, I believe, rapidly dis- 
appearing in those 
communities that 
employ well-pre- 
pared teachers, 
other communi- 
ties need enlight- 
enment in this 
regard. It is ob- 
viously very tire- 
some for a child — 
and all children 
weary easily — to 
have no suitable 
and proper foot- 
rest. The weight 
of the lower part 
of the limbs will 
prevent proper 
circulation, will 
tire the muscles 
and will inevita- 
bly render the child's position unstable and irksome. Further- 
more, in exaggerated cases the thigh bone becomes bent and 
may develop abnormally as a result. The pupil's feet should 
rest easily and flatly on the floor, so as to remove all undue 
pressure upon the under side of the thighs next the knees. If 
seats are even slightly too high, the pupil will sit on the edge of 
the seat, in order to avoid fatigue. Such a position impedes 
circulation, takes the child away from the back rest, and usually 
causes him to lean over on the edge of the desk top. 




Fig. 18. — The same as Fig. 17. Pupils standing. 



92 



School Hygiene 




Fig. ig. 



The proper height of a seat is approximately two sevenths 
of the height of the child ; but it may be determined more 
exactly by measuring the distance from the under side of the 
knee to the floor, when the child is sitting 
in a normal, easy posture. In the coun- 
try, children often go to school barefoot 
in the summer. This will make a differ- 
ence of about half an inch in the proper 
height of the seat, from that needed in 
winter, when shoes are worn. These 
differences ought to be noted, and the 
rightful adjustments made. 

In all cases it is not only harmful to the proper physical 
development of children to require them to sit on benches or 
chairs too high or too low for them, but it is downright wicked- 
ness to subject them to such inconveniences and pain. 

Proper Shape of the Seat of a School Bench or Chair. — The 
seat board ought to be wide enough for the lower limbs, when 
flexed in the sitting posture, to clear the edge comfortably and 
for the back to rest against the back of the seat. If the seat 
board is too wide, it will crowd the child forward and will 
inevitably cause him to lean over in order to rest on the edge 
of the desk top. If too narrow, the weight of the body will be 
supported in such a way as to impede the circulation. Gener- 
ally speaking, however, I believe that the 
seat boards are more often too wide than 
too narrow. The seat board should be 
hollowed out slightly next to the back rest, 
so as to keep the body from sliding away 
from the back rest, and to distribute the 
pressure more evenly. The outer edge of 
the seat, for an inch or two, should be 
shghtly convex from above, and rounded at the extreme edge. 
The curve of the seat board should vary, especially for the 
upper grades. Adolescent girls need this more than the boys. 




Fig. 20. 



School Desks 93 

Shape and Height of the Back Rest. — Here, again, the 
average school bench or chair now on the market is, I am per- 
suaded, rarely correctly made. The back rest ought to so 
fit the back as to give it just that support it needs when the 
proper posture is taken. The backs of the boys are not the same 
shape and proportion as those of the girls, especially in the 
upper grades. The back of the normal boy has less forward 
curve as he sits in the proper way than the back of the girl. 
Especially is this true in the adolescent period. Due to the 
fact that there is a deposit of adipose tissue in the gluteal 
region of well-developed girls, the small of their backs is 
crowded away from the back rest more than is true in the case 
of the boys. How often have you seen the older girls rest 
their backs against a book put against the back of the seat at 
the waist line ! Here is just where the back fatigues most 
quickly, and here is just where it needs the most support. 
The waist hne of rapidly growing adolescent girls rises rapidly 
above the seat board, and a few months is often long enough 
to show a marked change. In some way this phase of the 
hygiene of school benches has been sadly neglected. The back 
of the bench ought to fit the back of the child at each stage 
of its growth so that when the proper posture is taken, support 
will be afforded. This is especially important for the girls, 
and I beHeve when accurate examinations are made that a 
larger number of girls will show scoHosis (lateral curvature 
of the spine) than of boys. Boys have more opportunity, or 
at least take more opportunity, for outdoor sports and games 
than the girls, get more vigorous physical exercise, and in this 
way they generally correct the effects of faulty posture main- 
tained during school hours. 

Curvature of the Spine. — For instance, among those who 
have been treated in the famous Copenhagen Institute for 
Cripples, nearly four times as many females were afflicted with 
scoHosis as males. This, of course, does not mean that all 
of the discrepancy was due to improper benches or chairs; 



94 School Hygiene 

but it does indicate that girls may be more susceptible than 
boys to spinal curvature. This may be due, in large part, to 
the possibility that girls are apparently more inclined to 
rickets, induced by poor nutrition in early childhood. 

In a published article ^ D. C. McMurtrie gives a table that 
shows the distribution of cripples according to deformity ; and 
in this we learn that of one thousand nine hundred and thirty- 
two children showing tliis defect, one thousand five hundred 
and twenty-eight were girls and four hundred and four were 
boys. Practically the same percentage holds for adults. Tliis 
evidence is, of course, not conclusive, for conditions may oper- 
ate to bring into such an institution a greater proportion of 
girls so affected than of boys. The number of cases is far too 
small from which to draw general conclusions. 

Dr. Esther Parker says : — 

"More than one third of the women I examined last fall showed curva- 
tures varying from slight to marked cases." In her discussion of these 
facts she says: "If we could induce mothers not to corset their 
daughters so early ; and to be more careful about the size of the heels 
of their shoes ; and if we could influence school superintendents to have 
school desks adjustable to the size of tlie student ; and if growing muscles 
were given freedom of movement instead of being trained to keep still, 
we could hope to reduce the number of spinal curvatures." ^ 

Lateral curvature of the spine due to faulty posture may 
be overcome in children by judicious guidance in those setting 
up exercises that tend to produce correct posture and normal 
carriage. But organic or structural lateral curvature de- 
mands more specialized treatment. Drs. Lovett and Sever 
classify severe cases in childhood as due to one of the five 
following causes : — • 

^ The Copenhagen Institute for Cripples, Its History, Work, and Results. 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Nov. 23, 191 1, pp. 794-798, Vol. 165, 
No. 21. 

2 Physical Condition of Women during College Life, Dr. Esther E. Parker, 
Physical E.xaminer and Medical Adviser of Women, Cornell University, in 
BuffaJo Medical Journal, Vol. 67, No. 12, p. 668, July, 1912. 



School Desks 95 

"(i) A congenital anomaly of the spine, such as spUt vertebrae, etc., 
a class of cases only recently recognized as so important ; and until the 
use of the X-ray not generally understood. 

"(2) Infantile paralysis. 

" (3) Empyema (an accumulation of pus or other fluid in some cavity 
of the body). 

"(4) Rickets. 

"(5) A softness of the bones which we must assume without direct 
evidence of rickets." 

The treatment advocated in these organic or structural 
cases of lateral curvature is that of " forcing the spine into a 
normal position, and holding it there during part of the period 
of growth " by removable jackets ; and to utilize the recum- 
bent position as an aid, along with proper gymnastics, to re- 
store the muscles to their normal support.^ 

The Height of the Back Rest. — The height of the back of 
school benches is generally too great. It has been determined 
with a reasonable degree of certainty that if the backs of school 
benches or chairs be just a little lower than the shoulder 
blades of the pupil when sitting properly, the best results, 
other things equal, may be obtained. Such a height prevents 
the shoulders from crowding the body forward, permits the 
back to receive the support where it is most needed, gives 
freedom of movement, and prevents to some degree the tend- 
ency to slide down in the seat, though, as explained above, this 
tendency is chiefly due to the faulty construction of the desk 
top. 

Movable Chairs instead of Ordinary Desks. — Due to the 
movement for a more general public use of schoolrooms and 
also to the growing desire to make the schoolroom a more 
convenient place for active school work, with a less rigid daily 
program and more freedom in classification, movable school 
chairs with attached box for books not in immediate use, and 

' See The Treatment of Lateral Curvature of the Spine (illustrated), by Drs. 
Robert W. Lovett and James Warren Sever. Mind and Body, Vol. i8, Novem- 
ber, 191 1, pp. 281-290. 



96 



School Hygiene 



a tablet fastened to one side, have recently been introduced 
into some parts of the country. The Moulthrop school chair, 
represented in Fig. 21, is one of the most successful of 

these chairs. There 
are some advantages 
in the use of such 
chairs, as any 
teacher may read- 
ily see. The chief 
disadvantage is 
the fault already 
pointed out in ordi- 
nary desks. The 
tablet upon which 
the books and writ- 
ing material must 
rest is too flat, and 
is not readily ad- 
justable to the de- 
mands of normal 
vision and hygienic 
posture. It may be, 
however, that this 
chair is the forerunner of simpler, less expensive, and more 
hygienic school furniture. 




Fig 



21. — The Moulthrop school chair and desk com- 
bined. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Have your pupils stand facing the blackboard in a natural, erect 
posture, and note which of them, if any, have apparent lateral spinal 
curvature. Note which shoulder or which hip seems higher, and to which 
side the spinal column bends. Such an e.xamination will be of little 
service save to aid in picking out subjects for more careful individual 
examination, but it may be of signal service to some. 

2. Measure the height of all your pupils and determine how closely 
the rules given above for approximating the height of the seat and that 



School Desks 97 

of the inner edge of the desk top will meet the normal requirements of 
each pupil. 

3. Study the position of each seat and its desk to see whether or not 
they are properly adjusted to a minus distance. 

4. Study the postures of pupils while they are at work in order to 
determine as accurately as possible what conditions of the pupil and desk 
make unhygienic postures so common. 

5. Note the shape of the backs of the older girls and, if possible, devise 
some means of rehef to those whose backs get improper support. 

6. How can you vary your daily program so as to aiiford the rehef 
from long sitting in cramped and unnatural postures, that the health of 
the children demands ? 

7. At a certain period each day for a week or two, count the number 
of children in your room who, without previous correction, are sitting 
in a good position, and with a good posture. 

8. What advantages and disadvantages would accrue to your school 
if instead of the ordinary fixed benches and desks your pupUs were 
furnished with chairs and tables properly constructed, so that they might 
gather in groups to do their work ? 

9. Study the arrangement and location of your desks, and if they are 
not properly set, relocate them on a floor plan, and ask the authorities 
to replace them for you. 

10. Somewhere in your schoolroom have a writing desk whose top 
may be adjusted to various slants, and determine what can be done to 
make hygienic demands and practical necessities coalesce. 

11. Determine the best method and position of placing ink weUs in 
school desks. 

12. With the aid of each pupil make a careful description of the 
condition of his desk at the beginning of each term, so that each one 
may be justly held responsible for any rough usage of his desk. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Boas and Wissler. Statistics of Growth. Report of U. S. Commis- 
sioner of Education, 1904. pp. 25-132. 

BoBRiCK, G. A. Hygienic Requirements of School Furniture. New York, 
1892. 51 pp., iUus. 

Hartwell, E. M. Report of the Director of Physical Training. Boston 
School Document No. 4, 1895. 

LovETT, R. W. Lateral Curvature of the Spine and Round Shotdders. 
Philadelphia, 191 2. 192 pp., Ulus. 
(See various texts on school hygiene for further discussion.) 



CHAPTER VI 
SCHOOL BATHS 

The Need of Baths at School. — If all school children, or 
even if the large majority of public school children, were sup- 
phed with proper bathing facihties at their homes, it would 
be inadvisable to make any provision for baths in school 
buildings. But to those who are too poor or too careless to 
supply baths for their children, the schools must give this 
help, or else these children will grow up with filthy personal 
habits, and disrespect for cleanliness in general. 

While bathing facilities in apartment houses and " flats " 
in the larger cities are now usually supplied, the cheaper 
houses for workmen are of tener neglected. In the smaller towns 
and in the country the bathtub is altogether too rare. No one 
can give even an approximate estimate of the number of 
school children who are accommodated at home with regular 
bathing facilities ; but it is safe to say that not half of the chil- 
dren in cities regularly bathe at home, while in the country the 
percentage is discouragingly small. 

School Baths needed for General Sanitation. — School 
baths have proved their value not only as a means of teaching 
children the need and joy of individual cleanliness, but they 
have materially aided in keeping the atmosphere of school- 
rooms purer and rendered infection far less likely. To those 
who have not come into intimate contact with the habits and 
customs of the varied population represented in our public 
schools to-day, it may seem almost unbelievable to say that 
it is not at all uncommon to find boys and girls sent to school 
" sewed up for the winter." Such unhygienic care of children 

98 



School Baths 99 

has come to light since school baths have been established, and 
has emphasized, in a striking way, the necessity for demanding 
them. It has never been necessary to make school bathing 
obligatory, but simply to require of each child at least one bath 
a week either at home or at school. Such a regulation gives 
the parents an option, and in this way prevents useless friction. 
Experience has proved that parents who would otherwise 
object to compulsion have acquiesced, and the children have 
often preferred the school bath to the home bath, even where 
suitable home facilities are afforded. 

Shower Baths the Cheapest and Best. — Shower baths are 
more suitable in schools than tub baths or swimming pools. 
They are far less expensive both to install and maintain, and 
are more sanitary. A shower requires much less water, less 
space, less time for the bath, and affords a minimum oppor- 
tunity for contagion. 

Methods of installing Showers. — Shower baths for the 
primary and lower elementary classes do not require individual 
booths. Instead of these, a series of shallow cement basins 
can be constructed in the floor of a well-lighted and well- 
ventilated basement room, the sprays arranged above to supply 
the bathers, and exit drains made from the bottom. Or better 
still, the whole floor could be built of cement or impervious 
tiles and made to slope slightly toward a central outflow, and 
the sprays hung from the ceiling to accommodate a whole 
class of boys or girls at once. Dressing booths in a neighbor- 
ing room will thus permit the children to disrobe, and put on 
thin bathing trunks. A large number may bathe at once, thus 
securing regularity, supervision, and helpful directions. Such 
an arrangement will also enable the attendants to note the 
general physical condition of the children and to exclude any 
who may show signs of disease or weakness, that would render 
a bath inadvisable. By this method all the boys or all the 
girls from a classroom can easily bathe in from twenty to 
thirty minutes, at a minimum cost, and under very whole- 



loo School Hygiene 

some conditions. Individual booths with showers are neces- 
sary for the older pupils. 

Influence of School Baths on the Home. — The first opposi- 
tion to school baths was made on the theory that the school 
had no right to encroach on the duties and privileges of the 
home, and that it was a form of school paternalism more or 
less socialistic in its nature. Moreover, it was claimed that 
it would bring about greater neglect of children at home. 
Experience has proved that these objections were not well 
founded. The instinctive pride that causes a mother to shield 
her children from criticism has operated in the case of school 
baths to cause her to keep the children's underclothing cleaner 
and in better repair. It has, in some measure, caused parents 
to give more attention to general physical cleanliness and well- 
being. Besides, the children who have benefited from school 
baths have carried back to their homes a gospel of purity and 
preached it to the resulting good of the whole family. They 
are thus being prepared to demand in their own homes, present 
and future, more wholesome and sanitary conditions. Those 
parents who, through ignorance or moral obliquity, have 
hitherto neglected their children have been compelled to sub- 
mit to the rules and to give their children the opportunities 
that health and general cleanliness demand. 

School Baths needed in Towns and Rural Communities. — 
Aside from the poverty-stricken, congested centers of our 
large cities, school baths are especially needed in the town, 
village, and rural schools because a large percentage of children 
who attend these schools rarely get a really hygienic bath. 
But the objection will be urged at once that it is practically 
impossible to install baths in these schools, both on account 
of the expense and the lack of running water. These are real 
difficulties, and it will take faith and much labor on the part 
of those who are striving for better things to overcome 
them. It is now possible, in connection with windmills, 
gasoline, electric, or even hand-driven force pumps, to install 



School Baths loi 

a pressure tank water supply in all public schools. (See Chap. 
VII.) 

Essential Requirements of School Baths. — The rooms 
should be well Hghted, thoroughly ventilated, and properly 
heated. The walls should be made of cement and faced with 
white glazed tile or brick. The floors should be of cement 
or cement and nonporous tile, and the ceiling of cement 
finished with a light-colored waterproof paint. The fix- 
tures should be simple and inexpensive and scientifically set. 
Some safe and effective method of heating the water should 
be installed in connection with the general heating system. 
Where natural or artificial gas is available, this is not at all 
difficult. The water should be pure and clean and the drain- 
age from the building ample and sanitary. 

Swimming Pools. — In general, swimming pools in connec- 
tion with public schools are too expensive to construct and 
maintain in proportion to the good that they accomplish. 
Unless they are extensive enough to accommodate a large 
number of pupils at the same time, it is difl&cult to arrange 
an economic program for their use. They require a great 
amount of water, introduce some dangers, and require much 
labor to keep them wholesome. They do, however, furnish 
opportunity for good exercise and fine sport. Where they are 
well constructed, of ample size, and hygienically kept, they can 
be of great service, especially to the younger children in teach- 
ing them to swim. They are effective in connection with 
evening schools, continuation classes, or general social work 
on the part of the school. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Under what conditions would it be possible to install shower baths 
in rural schools, and to arrange a regular program for bathing ? 

2. Do you think it advisable to undertake to furnish free shower baths 
for school children in cities ? In towns ? In the country ? Give 
satisfactory reasons for your answer. 



I02 School Hygiene 

3. Make a careful study of the history of school baths, their advantages 
and their disadvantages. 

4. Why are shower baths much to be preferred to other kinds of baths 
for schools ? 

5. Under the conditions at your school would it be better for the 
schools to furnish soap and towels for the baths, or should the children 
bring these from home on the days needed ? 

6. Devise a bathroom for rural schools. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Gerhard, W. P. Modern Baths and Bathhouses. (See Chap. 10.') 

New York, igo8. 311 pp., illus. 
Report of Educational Commission London County Council. 1906. 23 pp. 
Rose, F. The Use of Shower Baths in Schools in England and on the 

Continent. London, 1906. 24 pp. 



CHAPTER VII 

CONVENIENT AND SANITARY WATER SUPPLY FOR 
SCHOOL BUILDINGS 

The Water Pail in Schools. — Little effort will be required 
by those past the meridian of life to recall the days when a 
wooden bucket and a tin dipper were the only visible means 
of supplying thirsty country school children with drinking 
water. Either two boys were given the much-sought-for 
privilege of carrying water during school hours — it wouldn't 
be fun at any other time — from a neighboring well or some 
distant spring, or else the teacher went to school early enough 
in the morning to prepare for the demands of the day. At 
best, as one looks back to those days, he cannot help recalhng 
the slimy bucket, the sloppy floor, the rusty dipper, and all the 
other features incident to this primitive and filthy method of 
supplying water. Later, wells were dug and, while in some in- 
stances these gave much rehef, in other cases they were left 
uncared for and eventually became a source of danger more 
pronounced than the common water pail. 

The City Water System. — When a system of waterworks 
was installed in towns and cities, the schools quickly took ad- 
vantage of the supply thus offered, and the problem then be- 
came one of supplying the children promptly and with decency. 
Meanwhile, the rapid strides made in hygienic science brought 
to the attention of those in authority the danger from common 
drinking vessels, and, as a result, we now have drinking foun- 
tains where the children may drink quickly without danger of 
contagion unless the water is from an impure source. But 
country and village schools, because of their isolation from any 
system of waterworks, have struggled along with buckets and 
wells, or have depended on some neighboring spring. 

103 



I04 School Hygiene 

The Pressure Tank System of Water Supply. — One of the 
urgent problems, then, of village and country schools, especially 
in the case of the smaller high schools, is that of an adequate 
and convenient supply of water for drinking purposes and for 
laboratories, toilets, baths, and lavatories. This problem is 
now in the process of solution, and in fact has been practically 
solved so far as appliances go. Country and village schools 
can have a safe and sufficient water supply for all of these pur- 
poses, and will have as soon as public opinion is sufficiently 
informed in regard to these matters. For many years windmills 
with an open tank placed high in the framework supporting the 
mill have been used on farms ; but while these tanks have 
served well enough for barnyard purposes, on account of 
storms, freezing weather, dust, and other sources of contamina- 
tion, they have not proved generally successful for household 
use. The air pressure tank, a comparatively recent invention, 
is now superseding this outside tank, and by reason of the fact 
that it may be placed in a basement or buried in any conven- 
ient place below the frost line, and is wholly isolated from all 
sources of contamination, if the water suppUed is pure, most 
of the objections referred to above have been removed. For 
example, a deep-driven well tapping a water supply below the 
danger Hne of infiltrations can be sunk in many school lots, 
and will supply purer and safer water than can be supplied 
by most of the city water systems. The water from such a 
well can be raised and forced into the pressure tanks by a 
windmill, a gasoline engine, or, where electricity is obtainable, 
by a small electric motor. The former is less expensive, but 
is in general not so reliable as the others, and is also unsightly, 
noisy, and frequently troublesome. 

The plumbing in either case may be arranged to meet all of 
the demands. Running water can be provided wherever it 
is needed, inside or outside the building. The principle in- 
volved in such a system is simple. A strong, air-tight steel 
tank of the capacity required is installed in the basement 



Convenient and Sanitary Water Supply 105 

where it will be safe from frost. This is properly connected 
by a water pipe with the force pump run by the windmill or 
the engine. An air pump generally worked by hand is at- 
tached to the tank so that a sufficient amount of air may be 
kept in the tank. When the water is pumped in, it will 
compress this air, which will force the water through the 
service pipes with a force equal to the pressure exerted, 
minus the necessary friction of the water as it flows through 
the service pipes. 

Naturally the water pipes enter the tank from below and 
the air occupies the upper part of it. A pressure gauge indi- 
cates the force and denotes more or less accurately the amount 
of water available. If the room in the basement is needed 
for other purposes, the tank can be run through an opening 
in the foundation wall well below the surface of the ground. 
This will give opportunity to make repairs, changes, or to 
stop any leaks in the pipes. This arrangement keeps the 
water at about the same temperature winter and summer, a 
consideration much appreciated in cold as well as in warm 
climates. 

It will also readily occur to all school men that such a sys- 
tem will not only deHver water for toilets, baths, laboratories, 
and for drinking purposes, but will give protection against 
fire, and will make it possible, even in dry weather, to keep 
a school garden in good condition. There are a number of 
manufacturing establishments ready to make plans, and to 
submit specifications for installing such a system. 

This method of water supply will furnish the means of solv- 
ing another vexing problem of pecuHar hygienic importance. 
The outhouses connected with the public schools in towns and 
country districts have long been menaces to both the health 
and morals of the children. Open vaults and vile cesspools 
are now known to be sources from which typhoid and other 
contagious germs are carried by means of flies into homes and 
school buildings, and there distributed on food supplies or 



io6 School Hygiene 

deposited directly on the exposed parts of the bodies of the 
children, whence they are transferred into the alimentary 
tract. Investigation has shown also that after a typhoid 
patient has sufficiently recovered to attend school, the excreta 
may still carry germs, and, in this way, offer opportunity for 
the spreading of this dangerous disease. But even if these 
outhouses were not sources of contagion, they are disgraceful 
and shocking reminders of a time when nothing better could 
be had. With a pressure tank system of water supply, all 
schools now have the opportunity to get rid of them. But 
some one will ask, " How can you get rid of them unless you 
have a sewer system, and most villages and all country districts 
are still unsupplied with these means of sanitation? " The 
answer is, by means of septic tanks and subsurface drainage 
elsewhere described (p. 129). 

Wells at Rural Schools. — ■ Wells at country schools deserve 
far more consideration than they often get. They are usually 
shallow, for rather than go to the trouble or expense of sink- 
ing a deep well, district trustees will require the school to 
depend for drinking water on the well of the nearest neighbor 
or on a spring. A shallow well on a small school ground is 
usually a menace to health because of surface contamination, 
or through infection from cesspools or open vaults. During 
the long vacations the water becomes stagnant, and, unless 
the walls and casings are unusually well made and tight, 
small animals, toads, and vermin of various kinds are likely 
to find lodgment in it. Even if it is cleaned out at the opening 
of school, and this is not the rule, time will be required to 
change the water often enough to insure safety. Since 
cramped school grounds and insanitary privies are far more 
frequently found at these schools than not, the danger from 
infection is very great, especially in the fall and spring- 
time. 

Wells ought to be deep enough to tap the water supply 
below a Une subject to surface infiltration. The depth to 



Convenient and Sanitary Water Supply 107 

satisfy this sanitary demand depends on the topography and 
the opportunities for soil pollution in the neighborhood. If, 
for example, the school ground is considerably higher than 
the region about it, there is a tendency for the surface 
water to flow away from the well. This favors the purifica- 
tion of the water before it has time to sink into the soil and 
be drawn back toward the well. The nature of the soil 
through which the surface water percolates may also have 
much to do with the purification of the water. If the soil 
about the school premises is porous and not water-soaked, so 
that the oxygen of the air can sink into it, the saprophytic 
bacteria contained in the soil quickly render the organic im- 
purities in it inert and harmless. On the other hand, if the 
ground is comparatively level and wet, these purifying agen- 
cies cannot do their work so successfully, and impure surface 
water must gradually flow from all directions toward the well. 
If the well is deep enough, or the formation is of such a nature 
that an impervious stratum can be pierced and the supply 
of water can be drawn from beneath it, the danger from in- 
filtration may be greatly lessened. This of course depends 
on the dip of the stratum and the possibility of contamina- 
tion at the source from which the water is drawn. If the dip 
of this impervious stratum is such that it comes to the surface 
at a safe distance from the well, and the source of the water 
supplied to the area below it is relatively pure, a well drawing 
its supply therefrom will be safe. But to insure no pollution 
from the soil above the impervious stratum, the wall of the 
well must be so constructed as to shut off infiltration from the 
ground immediately around it. A well thirty-five feet deep, 
piercing an impervious layer of soil or stone ten feet from the 
bottom, requires a water-tight wall above this point to shut 
off the possibilities of seepage into it. Such a wall may be 
made from glazed sewer tiles set in cement. The top of the 
well should be arched over and closed so tightly about the 
pump that neither drippings from the pump, surface drain- 



io8 School Hygiene 

age, nor any animal, insects, or vegetable material can find 
entrance to the well. 

The toilets should be constructed in a strictly sanitary 
way, and the waste therefrom dehvered a safe distance from 
the well. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. How may school wells be walled and incased so as to prevent sur- 
face contamination ? 

2. If there is a spring in the neighborhood of a country school, how can 
one be sure that the water is wholesome and free from pollution ? 

3. Is it possible to install a force pump in a "driven" well at your 
school, and in connection with this a pressure tank, so that pure running 
water may be available for all the purposes of a school? How much 
would it cost? 

4. Should there be a well on the ordinarily restricted school lot in the 
country, where toilets with cesspools are used ? 

5. How are wells and springs ordinarily contaminated in country 
districts ? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Brewer, I. W. Rural Hygiene, Chaps. IV, V. Philadelphia, 1909. 

227 pp. 
Gerhard, W. P. Sanitation, Water Supply and Sewage Disposal of 

Country Houses. New York, 1909. 328 pp., illus. 
Mason, W. P. Water Supply. New York, 1902. 448 pp. 
Raynes, F. W. Domestic Sanitary Engineering and Plumbing. (See 

pp. 193-339.) New York, 1909. 474 pp., illus. 
Richards, Ellen H. Conservation by Sanitation. (See pp. 19-168.) 

New York, 191 1. 



CHAPTER VIII 
DRINKING CUPS AND DRINKING FOUNTAINS 

The Danger of Common Drinking Cups. — More faith is 
required for the average man to beheve that dangerous mi- 
crobes can adhere to an apparently clean drinking vessel, and 
in this way transmit disease, than was demanded of the ancients 
for their behef that a salamander was proof against destruction 
by fire. The microscope and the methods of investigation 
made possible by its use have revealed a new world to modern 
generations. This is the world of the unseen, and consequently, 
to many people, the world of the impossible. It has taken a 
long time to convince critical people, those who have not had 
training in bacteriology, to reahze and believe. A much longer 
time wiU be required to teach the uncritical to make their 
lives conform to facts so far beyond their power to know at 
first hand. It is a part of the work of teachers to build up in 
the mind of the children this faith in science and their willing- 
ness to depend on technical and speciaHzed knowledge. There 
are some facts that most teachers must take on faith, for, in 
the nature of things, only a few can have the training necessary 
to know through personal experience. 

The ordinary method of washing dishes and drinking vessels 
does not remove all living microbes from them. Dish water 
sufficiently cool to allow the hands to be immersed in it will 
not thoroughly disinfect a cup or a dish, even if the water 
be clean. Drying with a clean towel will not remove all for- 
eign matter, least of all the almost infinitely small bacteria 
that are omnipresent. Faith is needed to believe this, even 
though proof of the truth of it can be set forth in abundance. 
It has been proved beyond question that tuberculosis may be 

109 



no School Hygiene 

transmitted from one person to another through the use of a 
common drinking glass. The same is true of diphtheria, 
tonsillitis, mumps, whooping cough, typhoid fever, meningitis 
(commonly known as brain fever), la grippe, pneumonia, and, 
in fact, most of the common contagious diseases. Of course 
this does not mean that these diseases are usually transmitted 
in this manner, but that they may be so transmitted and often 
are, especially in public schools. 

Suppose that there are children attending school who, al- 
though apparently well, are '' carriers " of the germs of diph- 
theria, and suppose a common drinking cup is used by all the 
scholars. It is not probable that all the children will escape 
infection. But how can a child be well, and yet be a carrier of 
diphtheria ? Just in the same way that dry dirt may contain 
seeds from a great variety of plants, and yet give no evi- 
dence of their presence until moisture, warmth, and light are 
furnished. These are conditions for germination. So the 
germs of diphtheria may remain for an indefinite period in 
the mouth and throat of a child, only awaiting proper con- 
ditions for development, or opportunity for infecting others 
who are susceptible. During an epidemic of diphtheria in a 
small city of Indiana in 191 1 the State Board of Health of 
that state found four hundred " carriers," only four of whom 
developed clinical symptoms of the disease. Two hundred 
eighty-eight of these were found among the children in 
attendance on the public schools. In order to prevent 
outbreaks of diphtheria, it will not suffice merely to isolate 
those who are ill with the disease, but the '' carriers " 
must be discovered, treated, and guarded as dangerous to 
the health of the community. In most places this will not 
be possible at this stage of public sentiment regarding the im- 
portance of preventive measures. But certainly it is the duty 
of teachers to know that even " well " children may become 
sources of infection, and thus see the means of minimizing, 
in every way possible, the opportunities for such infection. 



Drinking Cups and Drinking Fountains iii 

Hence common drinking cups, together with common towels 
and common lead pencils, ought- to be banished from schools. 
Bacteriological studies have been made of common drinking 
vessels used in schools, railway carriages, at pubHc fountains, 
and of those used in communion services in church, and the 
results have demonstrated beyond doubt that when one person 
puts even a sterilized cup to his lips, though he use the greatest 
care, there will cling to it some of the dead epithelial cells of 
the Hps and mouth, and that to these cells cHng such bacteria, 
pathogenic and nonpathogenic, as are inhabiting his mouth 
at the time. Attention is called to the fact, in the chapter on 
the " Teeth of School Children," that a very small percentage 
of the children have been accustomed to the use of the tooth- 
brush, and that the decaying particles of food lodged in the 
crypts of the teeth offer abundant material for the develop- 
ment of bacteria. A knowledge of the condition of the mouths 
of school children will not only reenforce the argument for 
the use of individual cups or of a sanitary drinking fountain, 
but will convince all teachers that it is inexcusable to com- 
pel children with all degrees of mouth impurities to use the 
same drinking cup. Children must be taught that the most 
dangerous things to civilized man are not the things that can 
be readily seen, but those myriads of microscopic plants and 
animals which are the causes of most, if not of all, of the dis- 
eases that attack us. Before the microscope was invented, 
things were thought to be absolutely clean when the dirt 
could not be seen. Now we know that the most dangerous 
part of '' dirt " is that which is invisible to the unaided vision. 
Yellow fever has disappeared from Havana since it was dis- 
covered that invisible germs were taken by a certain kind of 
mosquito from a patient suffering from this disease that, after 
a period of development, these were transferred to a well 
person, and that, while there was no direct way to get at the 
germs, yet if the carriers, the mosquitoes, were killed, there 
would be no yellow fever. The same is true for malaria. 



112 School Hygiene 

But many diseases are transmitted directly from person to 
person, especially diseases of the mouth, throat, and air pas- 
sages, by the mere transference of the germs from one to the 
other. Common drinking vessels and common towels are 
two of the things that we must teach the children to avoid. 
There are certain districts in the mountain sections of the 
southern states where trachoma, a most dreadful disease of 
the eyes, has involved whole famihes and neighborhoods 
because these poor people did not know, and could not know, 
how the infection was carried from one to another. 

Many innocent people have been infected, through the use of 
common towels and drinking vessels, with hideous diseases 
usually associated with immoral living, and have not only 
suffered in body, but have been misjudged and degraded in 
the eyes of men. It is very encouraging to see how rapidly 
these conditions are giving way. On all the great railroads 
and in public places generally the common cup and the roller 
towel have disappeared. Sanitary paper cups, individual 
towels, and laws against spitting in public conveyances are 
comparatively recent innovations, but they have already saved 
much suffering, and are creating in the minds of people a 
finer sense of fitness and decency. 

The following extract from the sanitary code of Louisiana, 
relative to the use of common drinking cups, will illustrate 
what is being demanded by health boards in all progressive 
communities : — 

"The use of the common drinking cup on railway trains and in railroad 
stations, public hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, on steamboats, 
stores, or any pubHcly frequented place in Louisiana is hereby prohibited 
from and after March i, igii. No person or corporation in charge of 
any of the aforesaid places shall furnish any drinking cup for public use 
in said place, etc., and no person or corporation shall permit on said 
railroad train, in railroad stations, public hotels, boarding houses, restau- 
rants, steamboats, or any publicly frequented place in Louisiana, the use 
of the drinking cup in common. 

"There must also be posted in a conspicuous place by the individual 



Drinking Cups and Drinking Fountains 113 



or corporation by the drinking water container in any of the places men- 
tioned in foregoing paragraph, a warning cardboard with the above 
printed thereon in large letters so that they can be easily read." 

Drinking Fountains. — Whenever it is possible to have a 
supply of running water, there is no further excuse for the use 
of common drinking cups, 
or even the troublesome 
care of individual cups in 
schools. Convenient and 
sanitary drinking fountains 
are now available in con- 
nection with water jars, 
or water coolers, where 
running water cannot be 
secured. The accompany- 
ing illustration. Fig. 22, 
shows how a fountain of 
this latter type can be used, 
thereby rendering drinking 
cups unnecessary, and at 
the same time insuring 
cooler and cleaner water. 

Where running water is 
available, the sanitary bub- 
bhng cup, shown by Fig. 
23, will prove especially 
useful. Such fountains save 
much time, insure clean- 
Hness, and prevent the 
spreading of any contagion from child to child through the 
drinking water. The principle involved in all forms of sani- 
tary drinking fountains is that of furnishing a stream of water 
bubbling at least two inches above the fixture and of sufficient 
volume to provide an easy means of drinking without permit- 
ting the lips to touch the bubbhng cup, or the water which 




Fig. 22. — A form of drinking fountain for 
rural and village schools. (Courtesy of the 
Waterbury Company.) 



114 



School Hygiene 



touches any part of the mouth to fall back, into the stream. 
In selecting a bubbling cup from those now on the mar- 
ket, it will be necessary to take into account the following 
points : — 

{a) The cup should be made of material that will neither 
rust nor corrode. 

{b) The stream ought to be steady and so well controlled as 
to prevent the children from squirting each other, or wetting 
the floor about the fountain. This is an important considera- 
tion, for a stream of bubbling water 
affords a great temptation for the 
children to dabble and to play tricks 
on each other. 

(c) The bubbhng cup should be 
reasonably strong and simple in 
construction. 

{d) The discharge for the waste 
water should be so constructed as 
to prevent clogging with refuse of 
any sort. 

(e) The valve should be so ar- 
ranged as to permit the teacher or 
janitor to regulate the stream, and 
at the same time to permit a child 
to open it whenever he needs to drink. In the latter 
case, it ought to close automatically when the child has 
finished. 

In warm climates where ice is available, it is advantageous 
to have an ice box connected with the water supply. This 
may be made at comparatively small expense by Hning the 
bottom and sides of a nonconducting box with a coil of water 
pipes or block tin coil so that the ice may be in close contact. 
The water from the melting ice must be discharged into an 
outflow and in such a manner as to prevent clogging, and to 
permit frequent cleaning. In this way water may be cooled 




Fig. 



.•\ sanitary bubbling 
cup. 



Drinking Cups and Drinking Fountains 115 

without any danger of contamination from the ice. When a 
cooler of this sort is used, the water should be allowed to 
flow from the bubbHng cup only when needed. 

If by reason of the expense involved school authorities can- 
not afford to supply a school building with the better class 
of drinking fountains, fairly good substitutes may be con- 
structed by any plumber by following these general directions. 
Connect at right angles with the service pipe a piece of ordinary 
water pipe so as to form a T, and of such length as to afford room 




Fig. 24. — A battery of bubbling cups in a basement. (Wolff.) 

for the number of bubblers needed. The ends of this bubbling 
pipe should be closed, and the whole incased in a nickeled 
covering. Open in it at a distance of about thirty inches 
from each other small holes through which the water may flow 
when the valve regulating the supply is open. These holes 
should not be exactly on the top, but slightly to the front, so 
that the stream cannot fall back into the opening. The proper 
size of the holes can be determined only by experiment, for the 
water pressure in no two water systems is the same. The 
stream should be controlled by a key valve, so that the teacher 
or janitor may regulate or close it. There should be a sink 
basin below to catch and carry away the waste water. Foun- 



ii6 School Hygiene 

tains so constructed prove fairly satisfactory in basements, 
or on playgrounds when the weather is not very cold. They 
are not satisfactory above the basement. 

Location of Drinking Fountains. — The question of location 
of drinking fountains is often a difficult one to solve. Theoret- 
ically they ought to be located near the children when they 
are most in need of a drink. Were it not for the difficulties due 
to freezing weather, they would best serve their purpose for the 
majority of children, if immediately accessible from the play- 
grounds. Such a location has the additional advantage of 
preventing congestion in halls or basement rooms after inter- 
missions. In those parts of our country where it freezes 
seldom, schools with playgrounds should have drinking 
fountains outside the building, but properly protected from 
heat and dust. In cold climates they should be located inside. 
In all cases, however, there should be fountains sufficiently 
near classrooms, for use during school hours. If put in halls, 
they should be recessed, so as to be out of the way. If in 
basements, they should be in the lunch room, or in some room 
well lighted and sanitary in every way. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Collect and study the laws of the various states relative to common 
drinking cups and the installation of drinking fountains. 

2. Collect information, pictures, and price lists of drinking foimtains 
suitable for schools where running water is not furnished. 

3. Determine the best location for drinking fountains in the school 
building where you are at work. 

4. What diseases are most Hkely to be contracted by the use of common 
drinking cups in schools ? Collect information from the various state 
boards of health relative to this question. 

5. Do you think individual paper cups will finally prove satisfactory 
for schools? Why? 

6. Collect and summarize the results of careful investigations on the 
dangers of common drinking vessels. 



Drinking Cups and Drinking Fountains 117 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Davison, Alvin. Death in School Drinking Cups. Texas School 
Journal, September, 1908. pp. 54, 56, 58. 

Keer and Moll. Common Drinking Cups and Roller Towels. An 
analysis of the laws and regulations relating thereto in force in the 
United States, Public Health Bulletin No. 57. Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 191 2. 30 pp. 

Mathbny, W. a. The Common Drinking Cup. Pedagogical Seminary, 
V. 18, pp. 205-213. Bibliography. 

RoBARTS, P. T. A Protest against the Common Drinking Cup. Iowa 
State Board of Health Bulletin 24 (April- June, 191 1), pp. 101-104, 

American School Board Journal. The Drinking Cup Crusade: a Sympo- 
sium. November, 1910. pp. 31-32. 



.«x 



CHAPTER IX 
TOILETS FOR SCHOOLS 

Location of Toilets. — For buildings not over two stories 
high the most economical, and on the whole the most isolated 
and convenient, place for toilets is the basement. Located 
here, much expense is saved in plumbing, better floors may be 
made, flushing and washing may be done more safely, good 
ventilation may be more easily maintained, and privacy is 
safeguarded. Where sewers are not provided, the plan sug- 
gested in the chapter on "Water Supply" can be followed. 
Disconnected outhouses introduce many difficulties aside from 
those suggested by inclement weather, lack of space, and 
neglect. 

Good Light for Toilet Rooms. — The rooms in basements 
where these necessities are placed should be flooded with sun- 
shine during some part of each clear day, and under any con- 
dition they must be thoroughly lighted. In placing latrines 
and urinals care should be taken to avoid obstructing the light, 
and also to face the stalls so that they will receive as much 
direct light as possible. To meet these demands most easily 
for small or medium- sized schools, a long narrow basement 
room looking toward the south will generally prove most 
satisfactory. A double row of latrines or urinals placed back 
to back is almost certain to make hghting unsatisfactory. It 
is best to put them singly against an inner partition not more 
than ten or twelve feet distant from the windows. The 
urinals should be placed near the entrance to the boys' toilets ; 
the latrines are better located farther from the door. This 
arrangement of urinals and seats will make plumbing more 
simple, get the outflow into the sewer a Httle nearer the middle 

ii8 



Toilets for Schools 119 

of the building, and hence make it unnecessary to have a long 
duct to connect with the ventilating stack. This will operate 
in giving more rapid ventilation through reduced friction. 
In order to make this room as hght as possible, and at the same 
time to preserve privacy, the windows may be glazed with 
ribbed glass and protected from without by a strong coarse- 
meshed wire screen. In addition to the flushing tank for the 
latrines and waste pipes for the urinals, a spigot for hose at- 
tachment is essential for washing floors and flooding the urinals. 
If these rooms are well kept and suflSciently large, there is no 
special reason why lavatories should not be located there also ; 
but if space permits, it is better to place the lavatories in an 
adjoining room for the sake of decency and to prevent over- 
crowding. 

Floors of Toilet Rooms. — The floors of these rooms should 
be made of cement, or with a base of strong cement, well 
tamped and carefully evened to the slope needed. After this 
base has thoroughly dried, a thin coating of hard asphaltum will 
render it practically water proof and make the floor less porous, 
thus preventing the rise of ground air into the room, Asphal- 
tum furnishes an excellent surface at reasonable cost; while 
tile floors or terrazzo are to be preferred, but are more expen- 
sive. 

Treatment of the Walls of Toilet Rooms. — The facings of 
the walls should be of Hght, glazed bricks, or white tiles, in 
order to prevent the absorption of Hght and to make it easy 
to scrub and disinfect the walls. When walls are so con- 
structed, there is also much less liability of defilement in the 
way of indecent drawings, or indelicate scribbHngs, a common 
indiscretion if not a vice with schoolboys. The ceihng should 
be constructed with the purpose of preventing, as far as pos- 
sible, the escape of any possible odors into the rooms above. 
Perhaps aU that can be expected in most school buildings is a 
good coating of cement plaster finished smooth and when dry 
painted with a white paint so mixed as to give it a sort of 



I20 School Hygiene 

glazed texture more or less impervious to the air, and which 
will not be injured by occasional washings. 

Exposed Plumbing. — It is generally wise to expose the 
plumbing connected with the water supply in order that 
inspection and repairs may be made without undue trouble 
or defacements. 

Number of Toilet Seats Needed. — In grammar schools 
the number of seats that will suffice for the girls' toilet may 
be determined approximately by dividing one half of the total 
number of pupils that the building is designed to accommo- 
date by fifteen. That is to say, if the school is built for six 
hundred pupils, there ought to be twenty seats for the girls. 
For the boys the number of seats needed may be approxi- 
mated by dividing by twenty-five. Hence, for the accommo- 
dation of three hundred boys twelve seats is generally 
ample. The number needed, however, will depend to some 
extent on the distance that the children will have to come. 
Obviously, if a majority go home during the noon recess, the 
demands will be lessened. The number of urinals need not 
be so great, say ten for such a building. There should be 
enough, but not too many. In this connection it ought to be 
said that principals can save a good deal of congestion and 
likewise prevent moral contamination by so arranging the 
program that dismissals at recess time will be a few minutes 
earlier for the primary classes than for the upper classes. 

In high school buildings, the proportional number of seats 
may be reduced from the above figures ; because study hours 
and greater freedom in high schools, together with the ad- 
vanced age of the children, prevent so much congestion in 
toilet rooms. 

Urinals. — Individual urinal bowls are in general very 
unsatisfactory anywhere, but they are especially objectionable 
in schools. It is almost impossible to flush them thoroughly, 
to keep them clean, and to ventilate them properly. They 
demand more attention than a school keeper can give to them, 



Toilets for Schools 



121 



and for careless schoolboys are altogether objectionable. 
Common trough urinals are still worse, and should not be used. 
The best form of urinal for school purposes, especially for gram- 
mar schools, seems to be that made by stalls opening at the 
bottom in a narrow slot through which the flushing water, the 
urine, and the ventilating drafts enter. The water is caught 
in a trough below and quickly carried to the sewer connections. 
The air is carried downward and over these troughs to the 
exhaust duct connecting with the ventilating stack elsewhere 





, ,...- 'f.,„, i. 1. .^ .. 


1 


j 

1 






^ 


1 ' 

J 


1 ! ^ 




1 " 


1 


1 


■ 1 




■' 


. 1 




t^^^"" 







Fig. 25. — Wolff's hammered-glass urinal stalls (ventilated). 

described (see the illustration, p. 122), or with an exhaust out- 
let operated by a special fan. 

The choice of material for the sides and backs of the 
urinal stalls will, of course, depend partly on the money avail- 
able. A good quality of slate, hard seamless marble, or, better, 
white glass slabs is to be recommended. Glass has the de- 
cided advantage of being nonabsorbent and of being readily 
cleaned. The outer edges of the glass slabs should rest in 
a framework of noncorroding metal, to prevent breakage. 
Naturally, th€ back of the stall should incHne forward toward 
the bottom and receive the cleansing spray evenly distributed 
across the top. 



122 



School Hygiene 



Toilets on the Main Floor. — In two-story buildings there 
should be on each floor above the basement one seat for 
the girls and one for the boys. These should be used only 
for emergencies. On each of these floors, also, the teachers 
should be accommodated with both lavatories and toilet 

necessaries, one for each sex. 
It would seem almost need- 
less to state that these must 
be well lighted and have 
good ventilation. 

Ventilation of Toilets and 
Urinals. — All toilets and 
urinals should be ventilated 
directly down and through 
them, so that no odors can 
escape into the toilet room. 
This ventilation system 
ought to be wholly independ- 
ent of any other in the 
building. Otherwise reverse 
currents may give trouble. 

Probably the safest and 
simplest method of ventilat- 
ing the seats and urinals con- 
, \ /- ' sists in building a separate 

Fig. 26. — Form of heater for ventilating Stack, at aS near-by COU- 
toile;;s and urinals. (Courtesy of U. S. yenient plaCC aS practicable, 
Bureau of Education.) , , . 1 -li. 

With a stove or grate built 
into it from the basement in such a way that after the 
fire is built, all of the draft needed for combustion, and that 
caused by the outflowing heated air, will be drawn through an 
underground duct connected with the seats and urinal out- 
flows near the sewer connections. This stack may be built 
in a main chimney, but is not to have any direct communica- 
tion with any other draft. Sometimes in small buildings 




Toilets for Schools 123 

the escaping heat from the fires may be made to warm this 
stack so as to aid the outflow of air. Where steam heat is 
used, steampipes placed in it, instead of the stove or grate, 
will serve the same purpose. But even during the winter 
season, when hot fires are needed to warm the rooms, it is safer 
to supply this ventilating stack with an independent means 
of heating, so that during the night, and especially during week 
ends and hoHdays, this fire may be kept going without the extra 
expense incurred in keeping a boiler or furnace hot. This 
fire must be kept burning winter and summer during the school 
session. To this end, it is especially desirable to make due 
provision for a fire that will last. Hence a large fire box ar- 
ranged to insure a slow, steady heat without frequent replen- 
ishings will save trouble and fuel and insure safer ventilation. 
When these provisions are made, and fire is kept burning, base- 
ment toilets and urinals can be kept pure and altogether un- 
objectionable. 

Automatic Washout Bowls for Schools Needed. — The seats 
should have an automatic washout attachment, for school 
children cannot be depended on to regulate the flushing. 
Where a number of seats are connected with the same dis- 
charge trough, there must be an occasional discharge of water 
great enough to sweep it clean. There are numerous patent 
devices made to accomplish this purpose, and in general it 
may be said the simplest is the best. The problem of supply- 
ing each separate seat with a flushing tank to be operated 
automatically when the seat is used, or of furnishing a release 
to be operated by the pupil himself, is not altogether satisfactory 
for primary classes. Generally, as indicated above, it is better 
not to depend on children entirely to regulate matters of this 
sort, but if possible to utihze both methods. It is plain that 
unless the general flushing tank is operated very rapidly, 
some provision ought to be made to wash out each individual 
seat as soon as used; otherwise even with good downward 
ventilation there is some danger of escaping odors. However, 



124 School Hygiene 

if the receiving trough is placed well below the seats and a 
strong downward draft maintained, there is usually no 
trouble, especially if the flushing tank is speeded up during 
periods of intermission. Where the water supply comes at 
small cost, and where sewer connections are ample, there 
can be Httle complaint when dependence is placed solely on a 
general automatic flush, for it can be set to discharge at a rate 
to meet demands. The troubles of plumbing arising from a 
great number of individual tanks are so annoying and expensive 
that such tanks are Hkely to be frequently left in bad repair. 

In some of the newer schools in Germany, the regulation of 
the flushings is accompHshed by means of a clock which can 
be set so as to effect rapid flushings at periods corresponding 
to those for intermissions. These clocks are similar in arrange- 
ment to ordinary program clocks, but of course much less 
complicated. Any mechanic can make such connections with 
an ordinary clock. 

Sanitary Toilets for Country Schools. — In country schools 
where outhouses are necessary, they can be made less con- 
spicuous by covering them with vines, shielding them by a 
clump of shrubs, or by a latticework fence. The Urinals con- 
nected with such outbuildings should be in the open air and 
completely hidden from the playground. One of the best 
means of keeping dry closets free from odor is to have at hand 
a good supply of dust gathered from the roads in dry weather, 
or fine ashes to scatter over the excreta. For this purpose a 
bin can be built in each of the outhouses, from which the 
material can be scooped as needed. It is good civics to teach 
the children how to use these means of cleanliness, and to 
give them the reasons for using dust, ashes, or slaked lime. 
Instead of deep pits or cesspools, it is far safer in wet soil to 
have buckets underneath the seats which can be drawn out 
and emptied as often as needed. It is almost impossible 
to keep a pit clean and free from odor, even though it is not 
water-soaked. 



Toilets for Schools 125 

The outhouse, when we have to put up with such inconven- 
iences, demands far more attention than it usually gets; but soon 
it ought to be possible to install in every country school a system 
of septic tanks connected with washout toilets. An ordinary 
force pump to be worked by hand with a supply tank high 
enough to drive the water through the feed pipes to wash- 
out toilets can be installed at almost any school, and will 
be when people are sufficiently informed of the dangers of 
open vaults. Such conveniences would have a good reflex 
influence in the homes represented. There are many country 
schools so located with reference to a water supply that with 
a Httle planning on the part of the teacher or county superin- 
tendent, water can be carried from springs or running streams 
to a sunken tank on higher ground and from there distributed 
for use in the toilets, the garden, and, if pure, to the school- 
room for drinking purposes. What we need to make our 
country schools more wholesome and attractive is not so much 
more money as it is more intelHgent and vigorous super- 
vision. There are many opportunities not utilized simply 
for lack of suggestion and definite guidance. A good sani- 
tary, decent, toilet system at a country school will in time set 
better standards in this respect for the homes. 

Dangers of Insanitary Toilets in the Country. — Those 
who are conducting the crusade to exterminate hookworm 
disease, and to protect against typhoid fever, have come to see 
that no permanent reHef from the spread of these diseases 
can be secured until sanitary toilets are used. Hookworm 
disease is caused by parasitic worms which fasten themselves 
to the inner walls of the intestinal tract by small hooks. 
Those afflicted with this disease discharge the eggs in the 
excreta. After these have passed through the required 
stages of development, if brought into contact with the 
skin of the hands or feet, they burrow through until they 
reach a blood vessel and finally lodge in the intestinal tract. 
It is obvious that the eggs of this parasite must not be allowed 



126 School Hygiene 

to develop or to infect the soil about the home or school. The 
only way to prevent this infection is by the installation and 
use of toilets designed to destroy them. In cities and towns 
where adequate sewer systems are found, washout toilets are 
sufficient. But in villages and in the country other methods 
must be devised. 

Typhoid Fever and Insanitary Toilets. — Typhoid fever is a 
germ disease, and myriads of these germs are discharged in the 
urine and feces of those afflicted. Hence all the precautions 
taken for protection against the hookworm are necessary 
to combat typhoid germs. It has been discovered, in recent 
years, that the common house fly carries these germs on his 
feet and body, if he is allowed to come into contact with excreta 
containing them. A toilet, then, must be so constructed that 
flies cannot enter the vault or in any way come into contact 
with this germ-laden material. 

Forms of Sanitary Toilets for the Country. — The most 
promising form of sanitary toilet for homes and schools, 
where flowing water and washout toilets are not yet available, 
appears to be that developed by Lumsden, Roberts, and Stiles, 
known as the L. R. S. Privy and described by Dr. Ferrel of 
the North Carohna Board of Health as follows: — 

"The apparatus under consideration consists of the following parts: 

" I. A water-tight barrel to be used as a liquefier. 

"2. A covered water-tight barrel, can, or other container to receive 
the effluent. 

"3. A connecting pipe about two and one half inches in diameter, 
about twelve inches long, and provided with an open T at one end, both 
openings of the T being covered by wire screens. 

"4. A close box, preferably zinc-lined, which fits tightly on the top of 
the liquefying barrel. The box is provided with an opening on top for 
the seat, which has an automatically closing Hd. 

"5. An antisplashing device consisting of a small board placed horizon- 
tally under the seat one inch below the level of the transverse connecting 
pipe; it is held in place by a rod, which passes through eyes or rings 
fastened to the box, and by which the board is raised or lowered. The 



Toilets for Schools 



127 



liquefying tank is filled with water up to the point where it begins to 
trickle into the effluent tank.^ 

"As an insect repellent a thin film of some form of petrolemn may be 
poured over the surface of the liquid in each barrel. 

"Although some of the fecal matter floats, it is protected both from 
fly breeding and fly feeding in the following ways : first, by the auto- 




^^'^^^ti^ycb^ny U. 



^tnclinedl^ 






Fig. 27. 



■ The L. R. S. sanitary privy tanks made of barrels. (Courtesy North 
CaroUna State Board of Health.) 



matically closing lid ; second, by the water ; third, by the film of oil ; 
and fourth, for additional safety, the apparatus should be located in a 
screened place. The film of oil also prevents the breeding of mosquitoes 
in the barrel. Accordingly, so far as the privy as a breeding or feeding 
place for flies and mosquitoes is concerned, the model in question com- 
pletely solves the problem. 



' This antisplasher can be eliminated without lessening the value of the 
toilet. 



128 



School Hygiene 



"The fecal material becomes fermented in the water and gradually 
liquefies ; the addition of excreta naturally raises the level of the liquid, 
and the excess flows into the efSuent tank, where it is protected from 
insects by the cover and by the film of oil. This efiiuent may be allowed 
to collect in the tank until it reaches the level of the connecting pipe, 
when it may be safely disposed of in various ways to be discussed later. 



^ ror, rtn^ 



acje fina. 



wm 



/low P')t^^ 
£*s5a!y iron bibft 

E.FFLVEAT TA/IK 



M E.FFL 




Z-O' 



'concrete, /loor. wralLr and cover G." -IbicK 






jEJZnOn TtffiDVJzU CQACDLTL TaATIV b-JtPX 

Fig. 28. — Concrete tanks as a means of permanency in using the L. R. S. toilet. 
(Courtesy North Carolina State Board of Health.) 



" This form of privy seems to meet the following requirements : — 

"i. It solves the fly and mosquito problems, so far as the privy is 
concerned. 

" 2. It liquefies fecal matter and reduces its volume so that it may be 
safely disposed of more easily and cheaply than night soil. 

"3. It reduces odor. 

"4. It reduces the labor of cleaning the privy and makes this work less 
disagreeable. 

"5. It is of simple and inexpensive construction. 



Toilets for Schools 



129 



"The effect of the fermentative changes in the apparatus upon the 
viability of typhoid baciUi and hookworm eggs has not been determined, 
but other experiments tend to show that under such conditions the vast 
majority of typhoid bacilU and of hookworm eggs introduced would 
die within six weeks' to two months' time. While the time of storage 
can be prolonged according to the capacity of vessels provided for the 
purpose, we believe at present that it is safer and more practical not to 
depend upon storage alone to destroy infectious organisms in the effluent, 
but to consider the effluent infectious and to dispose of it accordingly." 




Fig. 29. — A simple septic tank for a country school. A , settling chamber ; B, septic 
tank proper; C, so-called "dosing tank," from which the absorption field is dosed 
at intervals by means of the siphon ; D, siphon chamber. (Courtesy U. S. Bureau 
of Education.) 

Septic Tank Disposal. — A septic tank disposal system may 
be described briefly in the following way. At some distance 
from the building and on lower ground there are built two or 
more underground tanks and connected as in Fig. 29. These 
are connected with the source of the sewage by means of sewer 
pipes carefully cemented together to prevent leakage. From 
the last tank a drain leads to lower ground, and is here con- 
nected with a series of radiating drains of earthen tiles, which 
permit the liquid thus deHvered to them to escape into the 
surrounding soil where it is soon rendered inert by the action 
of the bacteria in the soil. The siphon arrangement shown 
between C and D regulates the flow so that the outgoing 
drain is intermittently supplied with the accumulated liquid 



130 . School Hygiene 

waste. This gives the soil time to purify itself and thus pre- 
vent odors, or surface contamination. Naturally, if the 
ground is gravelly or sandy, the capacity of these tanks and 
drains to dispose of the sewage is much increased. Also, if 
they are situated in considerably lower ground than that upon 
which the building is placed, they are more effective. These 
tanks may be made by building in appropriate excavations 
cement receptacles or brick receptacles thoroughly cemented 
inside and out so as to make them water-tight. They need not 
be more than four or five feet deep, though the depth should 
be regulated to suit the level of the ground into which the liquid 
is to be carried. These will last for a long time, and will, 
when properly constructed, prove fairly satisfactory for 
small schools. It is perhaps worth while to call attention to the 
fact that care must be taken to guard these tanks and their 
connections from clogging with coarse paper or waste from 
laboratories. 

With such a system as here briefly outlined, a country school 
can become as sanitary, as convenient, and as wholesome as 
the most favored city building. 

As the result of a recent investigation into the sanitary 
condition of thirteen hundred rural schools, in nineteen states, 
it has been found that less than five per cent have sanitary 
toilets. Moreover, more than one half of them have to depend 
on neighborhood wells and springs for drinking water. It 
should not require arguments or further plain talk to make it 
clear to any one who has enough common sense to serve on a 
school board or to supervise the construction of necessary 
conveniences at schools, the urgent necessity for immediate 
rehef from the vile outhouses so often found in connection 
with country schools. It will not suffice to teach people how 
to rid themselves of disease, they must also be taught how to 
guard themselves against attack. Every county superintend- 
ent, every teacher who is worthy the name, and every school 
board measuring up to the responsibility accepted, must know 



Toilets for Schools 131 

these facts, and must work to eradicate or at least to check 
these evils, 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Make a careful study of some of the epidemics of typhoid fever 
that have been traced to contaminated water supply. 

2. Gather as much information as you can about the construction of 
sanitary toilets for the school and the home. Utilize this, in due time, 
in your efforts for better pubhc sanitation. 

3. Make a drawing of a septic tank disposal system for a home, that 
provides for the disposal of the waste through tile drains laid below 
the surface of the ground. (See various books on rural hygiene and 
sanitation.) 

4. Make a study of the requirements necessary for the proper location 
of a schooUiouse or a home, in order to take advantage of the septic 
tank disposal system. 

5. Devise some method or plan for getting the people of a neighborhood 
to make a concerted effort to construct sanitary toilets at schools and at 
their homes. State boards of health, as well as local health boards, will 
gladly help in such undertakings. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bashore, H. B. The Saniiation of a Country House. New York, 1905. 

103 pp., illus, 
Egbert, S. Hygiene and Sanitation. Philadelphia, 1910. (See espe- 
cially Chap. 12.) 508 pp., illus. 
Gerhard, W. P. Sanitation, Water Supply and Sewage Disposal of 

Country Houses. New York, 1909. 328 pp., illus. 
New Hampshire State Board of Health. Sanitary Bulletin. Concord, 

N.H., January, 191 1, v. 3, No. 12, illus. 
North Carolina State Board of Health. The North Carolina Standard 

Sanitary Privy. Raleigh. 15 pp., illus. 
Stiles, C. W. The Sanitary Privy: Its Purpose and Construction. 

Public Health Bulletin No. 37. Washington, Government Printing 

Office, 1910. 24 pp., figs. 



CHAPTER X 

THE NEED OF PURE AIR 

Life and Oxygen. — There can be no life without oxygen, 
and animals get their supply of it from the air. Air is a mix- 
ture of several gases, chief among which are nitrogen, oxygen, 
and carbon dioxide. All animals breathe: some through lungs, 
as man, others through gills, as fishes, and some through tube- 
like openings in their bodies, as grasshoppers. The higher 
animals breathe mainly through their lungs, though the skin 
in most of them has some power of transpiration. Cut off 
from a supply of oxygen, man quickly dies, because the vital 
processes cannot proceed unless the tissues are constantly 
bathed in this essential element. We must not think, there- 
fore, that the oxygen in the air goes no farther than the lungs, 
for these are only the sources from which the blood gathers its 
supply, and from them carries it to every fiber and tissue of the 
body. Each action of the body, whether voluntary or invol- 
untary, requires oxygen, and hence each tissue must be supplied 
if it is to hve and to carry on its functions. Fifteen to sixteen 
times every minute, as you do the ordinary work of the day, 
the lungs are expanded through the pressure of the air, when 
the diaphragm is pulled down and the ribs elevated by the mus- 
cles for these purposes. Equally often, of course, as these 
muscles relax and thereby reduce the capacity of the chest, 
the air is driven out of the lungs. This process has not 
stopped since the first breath, and will not until death. It 
must go on during sleep as well as during waking hours, for the 
body is ever hungry for oxygen. One can consciously increase 
or decrease this rate for a short time, but fortunately it goes 
on in the main unconsciously. Death would ensue immedi- 

132 



The Need of Pure Air 133 

ately if all the oxygen were removed from the body and breath- 
ing ceased. 
Increased Activity increases the Demand for Oxygen. — 

Walk rapidly up a hill, or run a hundred yards, then observe 
the rate and depth of your breathing, and ask yourself this 
question, " What has caused this hurried demand for more 
fresh air? " Naturally, you will say, the increased activity 
or strain has been the cause. But suppose we examine a Httle 
more closely to see as nearly as we can what really has hap- 
pened in the body, for then we can understand better the 
need of fresh air. The fibers of the muscles, as well as the nerve 
cells and all other tissues of the body, are supplied with more 
or less minute blood vessels for the purpose of furnishing 
to these tissues sustenance and oxygen, and for carrying off 
waste materials. When the tissues increase their usual ac- 
tivity, they will need more sustenance and more oxygen. The 
heart will begin to beat faster and with more force, in order 
to furnish these supplies, and the breathing will increase in 
rate and volume, in order to furnish more oxygen to the blood 
and to release the increased volume of carbon dioxide. Every 
action of the body, consciously or unconsciously performed, 
therefore, uses up the material of the tissues involved in the 
action and also the supply of oxygen immediately at its com- 
mand. 

How the Oxygen gets to the Tissues. — When one under- 
takes to know completely what happens during breathing, he 
will at once see that introducing air into the lungs is really 
just the beginning of the process of supplying the body with 
oxygen. He will wonder first how the oxygen gets into the 
blood, and how the blood can take up and carry a gas all 
through the various parts of the organism. He knows that 
blood must be carried in the blood vessels and that the air 
as breathed cannot mix directly with the blood in the lungs ; 
otherwise the blood would soon fill the air cells and would 
finally be expelled by coughing, as in hemorrhages. Hence 



134 School Hygiene 

there must be some way to keep the blood out of the lungs, 
and at the same time there must be some method for the oxygen 
to get in and the carbon dioxide to get out. 

The Principle of Diffusion of Gases. — A gas ca*n pass 
through a thin membrane which will not permit the passage 
of blood, just as water can pass through a thin cloth, while a 
thicker substance would be held back. Thus the oxygen 
in the lungs, separated from the blood by the thin membran- 
ous walls of the blood vessels ramifying in all parts of the 
lungs, can get into the blood, and the carbon dioxide which 
has been formed in the body through the breaking up of the 
tissues by the Hfe activities can get from the blood into the 
lungs. But, you ask, what makes the oxygen enter the blood 
and the carbon dioxide leave it ? Possibly no one can answer 
this question completely, but it is a fact that gases, when sepa- 
rated as they are here by membranes through which they 
can pass, tend to establish an equihbrium. That is to say, 
if the percentage of oxygen in the lungs is greater than that in 
the blood, and vice versa, the percentage of carbon dioxide 
is greater in the blood than in the lungs, then each gas will 
flow toward the point of less supply in order to establish 
equilibrium. The force thus exhibited is called diffusion 
of gases, and tends to keep the gases of the atmosphere evenly 
distributed. Were it not for this diffusion of gases, life would 
be endangered as we move from place to place. It used to be 
said that because carbon dioxide is heavier than the other 
constituents of the air, we would always find it near the floor 
of our schoolrooms in much greater abundance than at higher 
points in the room. This is not often true, and could never 
be true except in an extreme state of overcrowding and lack 
of ventilation in the room. 

Thus we see that the blood is constantly calhng for oxygen, 
and the air in the lungs is constantly drawing off, as it were, 
the burden of carbon dioxide that the blood accumulates from 
the tissues in its circulation. 



The Need of Pure Air 135 

The Red Corpuscles of the Blood as Oxygen Carriers. — 

Moreover, the oxygen not only passes into the blood from the 
lungs, but it is attracted to certain elements of the blood. 
The red corpuscles, or cells of the blood, contain a material 
known as haemoglobin, which has the power to absorb the 
oxygen entering the blood from the lungs. When these cor- 
puscles are replete with oxygen, they take a bright red color. 
Arterial blood is therefore not as dark as venous blood, for the 
former is on its way from the lungs to the tissues, where it 
will distribute its oxygen, and the latter is on its way from 
the tissues to the lungs. When we speak of good red blood, 
we mean blood that is well suppHed with both nourishment 
and oxygen. If the blood for any reason has a diminished 
supply of haemoglobin, the tissues cannot receive their needed 
amount of oxygen, for the blood lacks power to carry and dis- 
tribute it, and the system suffers as a result. 

One of the most significant tests that physicians now apply 
to determine undernourishment and anaemia is that of noting 
the condition of the blood in this regard. 

The Plasma of the Blood as a Carrier of Carbon Dioxide. — 
The watery substance of the blood in which the various cor- 
puscles are floated and carried has power to absorb and carry 
the carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs, and there to 
give it up as already explained. Hence, to rid the system of 
the accumulating supply of this gas produced by the activity 
of the tissues, the blood needs to have abundant supply of 
water, which is absorbed into it through the length of the 
digestive tract. The lymph surrounding the tissues also 
absorbs carbon dioxide, and carries it toward the lungs through 
the agency of the lymphatic circulation. There are many 
other features connected with the process of supplying oxygen 
and the removal of carbon dioxide, but these may be learned 
from the larger textbooks on physiology. It is enough, for 
our present purpose, to understand that the body is in con- 
stant need of a renewed supply of oxygen, an equally effective 



136 School Hygiene 

means of discharging carbon dioxide, and that when these 
conditions are not furnished in our schoolrooms, the life pro- 
cesses are disturbed and more or less seriously interrupted. 

How Much Fresh Air is needed for Each Child per Hour ? — 
It is obvious from what has been said above that the amount 
of oxygen that a pupil will need will depend on his activity, and 
that his activity will be conditioned in turn by the amount 
that he receives. A pupil engaged in vigorous physical 
exercise, such as playing ball or going through gymnastic drill, 
always needs more fresh air than he would if he were doing the 
ordinary quiet work of the schoolroom. Hence, it is always 
better, when weather permits and other conditions are equal, 
to have outdoor games rather than indoor gymnastics. It has 
been determined, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, that 
children in the primary classes need at least two thousand 
cubic feet of fresh air each hour, those in the upper grades 
two thousand five hundred cubic feet, and those in the high 
school three thousand cubic feet. Of course, pupils will not 
perish if they get less than these estimates, but they will 
not be able to do their work easily and effectively, with- 
out fatigue and lassitude, unless they are furnished with 
approximately these amounts. In making such estimates it 
would be poor hygiene to stint them, or to suggest that they be 
cut off with less than their systems demand. These figures 
do not represent the amount of air that they breathe, but 
the amount that they vitiate each hour. An expired breath 
contains approximately one hundred times as much carbon 
dioxide as the same volume of normally pure air. That is to 
say, in pure air there are about four parts of carbon dioxide 
in each ten thousand parts of air, but an expired breath con- 
tains four hundred parts in ten thousand. Hence, each 
breath will throw into the air enough to raise a hundred times 
as much air to a percentage of eight parts of carbon dioxide 
to ten thousand parts. It is generally conceded that the air 
of a schoolroom should never be allowed to show more than 



The Need of Pure Air 137 

ten parts of this gas in ten thousand parts. Besides, it is 
certainly a foolish procedure to attempt to give the children 
the minimum air permissible, instead of the maximum. It is 
better to err on the side of plenty. 

Standard of Air Purity. — In the light of some recent experi- 
ments, it seems probable that too much emphasis has been 
placed on the deleterious effects of carbon dioxide alone. But 
where carbon dioxide is abundant the amount of oxygen is 
correspondingly decreased, and the escape of carbon dioxide 
from the blood to the air in the lungs is impeded. The amount 
of carbon dioxide in the air of a schoolroom is an index both to 
the relative amount of oxygen and to such organic impurities 
as may be thrown off from the body. The circulation of the 
air is also a significant element in schoolroom ventilation. 
It is plain, however, that nature has gone to great pains to 
adjust the human mechanism to the conditions of the atmos- 
phere as we find it out of doors ; and here we find slightly less 
than twenty-one per cent by volume of oxygen, seventy-nine 
and one half per cent nitrogen and argon, and approximately 
four hundredths per cent carbon dioxide. Manifestly it is a 
justifiable conclusion to say that this proportion should be the 
one that we should seek to maintain in all of our schools, homes, 
and public assemblies. This is nature's standard of purity 
to which we have been adjusted biologically, and no conclu- 
sion running contrary to this can be a safe guide for healthful 
conditions in our schools. 

New Theories on Ventilation. — Recently there has been 
much talk, over experiments made by Hill, Benedict, and others 
as to the effect or noneffect of breathing impure air. The 
experiments made by these men seem to show that the chief, 
if not the only, ill effects resulting from breathing the air of a 
crowded and badly ventilated room come from a high tem- 
perature with an undue amount of moisture mixed with the 
air. They say, in brief, that if a room has a good circulation 
of the air, and the temperature and the humidity are kept 



138 School Hygiene 

at the proper physiological standard, the air may be breathed 
until it is very foul without experiencing any bad effects. 

There can be no doubt that circulation of the air within 
a crowded room will prevent much of that feeling of drowsiness 
and dullness that one is accustomed to feel in quiet, overheated, 
and moist air. The body must lose some of its heat by evapo- 
ration, or by other means, else normal physiological conditions 
cannot prevail. If, as has been said elsewhere, the tempera- 
ture of the air is high, and the relative humidity also high, 
the heat normally produced in the body will accumulate. If 
the air be thirty degrees colder than the normal temperature 
of the body, the humidity at fifty per cent saturation, and the 
blanket of air about the body is being changed constantly, the 
perspiration will be readily evaporated from the skin and in 
this way the heat produced through the normal bodily activity 
will not accumulate and the body will thus be kept at the proper 
temperature. But it would certainly be unscientific to say 
that the experiments thus far made have " revolutionized all 
preexisting theories of ventilation." 

There is no getting around the fact that normal outside air 
is a mixture of various gases, and that the relative percentage 
of the components of this mixture is very nearly constant. 
The human organism developed in the open air, and its 
physiological processes were adjusted, through countless ages, 
to conditions there prevailing. Of course no one knows what 
the relative percentage of the various elements of the air was 
during all these ages; but it is safe to say that man to- 
day is adjusted to normal pure air such as we find in the 
open country, and that unless he is furnished with an atmos- 
phere of approximately the same constituency as that now 
prevailing in the open country, he will suffer as a consequence. 
Hence to attempt to browbeat nature's demands by limit- 
ing his supply of oxygen, and by bartering an excess of 
carbon dioxide for a "breeze," must at last prove to be delete- 
rious, if not dangerous. A " breeze " is good and of great 



The Need of Pure Air i39 

value under given conditions of the air; but nothing can 
take the place of oxygen, and nothing will atone for the 
use of an atmosphere with an abnormal excess of carbon 
dioxide, and the questionable companions which usually accom- 
pany it. The only safe standard of air to which all methods 
of ventilation should be adjusted is pure air. The methods 
employed for heating, conditioning, and moving of this air, so 
as to meet the other needs of the body are important, but 
they cannot be used as substitutes for purity. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Make a careful study of the results of tests made on city air and 
country air, and determine what causes are operating to account for the 
differences. 

2. Make an investigation into the habits of city and country people 
regarding the ventilation of bedrooms. 

3. Take a tin box, put into it some damp moss and a live toad, cover 
and solder the box air-tight, and put it in a cool place for a week ; then open 
and note the condition of the toad. Explain the results noted. 

4. Explain fully why you breathe at a more rapid rate during vigorous 
exercise than when at rest. 

5. Gather together as many estimates as you can find relative to the 
amount of fresh air needed per hour by children in the primary grades, 
elementary grades, and high school. Especially study the reasons given 
for the amounts demanded. 

6. Why is the test for haemoglobin in the blood a significant test from 
the hygienic point of view ? 

7. Make a careful study of the entire process of supplying the tissues 
with oxygen, and of eliminating carbon dioxide and other deleterious gases 
formed in the body through oxidation. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Billings, Mitchel, and Bergey. The Composition of Expired Air, 
and Its Effect on Animal Life. Smithsonian Report, 1895. PP- 389- 
412. 

Cohen, J. B. The Air of Towns. Smithsonian Report, 1895. pp. 349- 
387. 



I40 School Hygiene 

Edwards, Glen. Carhon Dioxide and Ventilation. Amer. School Board 

Journal, October, igii, v. 43, pp. 19, 31. 
Inaba, K. Ubcr das Kcnoloxin Wcichardts in dcr AusalmungslujL 

Zcilsch. f. Hyg. u. Iiifcclioii-Krankhcit, v. 68, pp. 1-26. 
Macfii:, R. C. Air and Ilcaltk. London, 1909. 345 pp. 
Pettenkofer, Max von. The Relation oj the Air to the Clothes we wear, 

the Houses we live in, and the Soil we dwell on. London, 1873. 

94 pp., illus. 
Richards, E., and Woodman, A. G. Air, Water, and Food. New York, 

191 1. 278 pp., illus. 
RosKNAu, M. J., and Amoss, H. L. Organic Matter in Expired Breath. 

Jour. Med. Research, v. 25 (191 1), No. i, pp. 35-84. 
Russell, F. A. R. The Atmosphere in Its Relation to Human Life and 

Health. Smithsonian Misc. Collections, v. 39, 148 pp. 
WooDinaDOK, S. II. Pure Air as an Investment. Boston, 1909. 23 pp. 
Vakigny, II. C. DK. The Air and Life. Smithsonian Report, 1893. 

pp. 125-201. 



CHAPTER XI 

VENTILATION 

Some Elementary Principles of Ventilation. — The first 
thing to learn touching practical schoolroom ventilation is that 
the attention given to ventilation in the home and the methods 
used there are entirely inadequate and insufficient when ap- 
plied to the problems of schoolroom ventilation. The habit 
acquired in the home with respect to ventilation makes it 
more difficult for teachers to adjust themselves to the needs 
of the schoolroom than would be supposed. This statement 
is made because much observation of what actually takes 
place in the way of schoolroom ventilation and much practical 
experience in the direction of teachers have led me to feel that 
in order to get results, emphasis is needed here first. In the 
home, even with a large family gathered in one room, there 
is far less overcrowding than we find in the average school- 
room. There is a greater number of cubic feet of air space 
for each member of a family of twelve (a very unusual family 
these days) when gathered in a room sixteen feet square and 
ten feet from floor to ceiling than there is for each of forty-five 
pupils seated in a schoolroom thirty-two feet long, twenty-four 
feet wide, and twelve and one half feet from floor to ceiling. 
In addition it must be remembered that, in the home, doors 
are often opened, the members of the household are going 
and coming, the rooms are often provided with open fires, 
and all together the opportunities for fair ventilation without 
much attention being given thereto are much greater at home 
than they are in the schoolroom. At school the children are 
kept quiet, the doors are seldom opened save during inter- 
missions, and in every way there are fewer unplanned oppor- 

141 



142 School Hygiene 

tunities offered for the introduction of fresh air than are 
afforded in the home. So it is necessary for teachers to 
develop a new consciousness, as it were, in regard to careful- 
ness in the matter of ventilation. In order to understand this 
phase of hygiene, it is well to consider somewhat carefully the 
physical principles upon which so-called natural ventilation 
depends. 

Changes in Temperature cause Movements of the Air. — 
In the first place, all movements of the air not produced by 
mechanical means and the rotation of the earth are due to 
changes in weight caused by changes in temperature. When 
air is heated, it expands and so, bulk for bulk, is lighter than 
cold air ; hence warm air tends to rise, while the colder and 
therefore heavier air sinks. If the air outside a building is 
colder than the air inside, when the windows are opened, a 
movement will be started at once to establish equilibrium. 
For the moment, if we neglect the influence of the wind, it 
will be easy to see how the currents of air thus produced will 
move. If the windows are opened from above, cold air will 
come in at the lower part of the opening thus made and set- 
tle more or less slowly and obliquely toward the floor. The 
greater the difference between the temperature of the incoming 
air and the air already in the room, the more rapid will be the 
movement of the currents of air, and the more directly down- 
ward will be the path of the incoming current. But it must 
be understood that in practice these statements will not 
always prove true. For, owing to the mixing of the cold air 
with the warm, and the crowding of the warm air toward these 
openings, the movements will be irregular and at times wholly 
in one direction. If some partitions be inserted so as to 
divide these openings, made by lowering the windows, into 
two nearly equal divisions, the cold air will then come in with 
less difiiculty at the lower one and the warm air leave through 
the upper with greater regularity. When this incoming air 
is only sKghtly colder, it moves slowly and obUquely toward 



Ventilation 143 

the floor, and by reason of this becomes warmer because of its 
contact with the warmer air in the room. It may happen then 
that the pupils seated next to the windows are receiving 
sufl&cient fresh air, while on the opposite side and away from 
windows and in corners there may be an insufficient supply. 
The tendency, however, is for the colder air to settle gradually 
toward the floor and, as it becomes heated, to give place in 
turn to the colder. For example, if the temperature of the 
air within the schoolroom is seventy degrees Fahrenheit 
and the air without fifty degrees Fahrenheit, when the 
windows are opened at the bottom and the top, this heavier 
air will move in at the rate of about five feet per second. 
But plainly if the difference in temperature be only half 
so great, the rate of the air currents will be reduced by one 
half. It follows, then, if ventilation of schoolrooms is to 
be effected by opening the windows, larger openings must 
be made when the air without and that within is near the 
same temperature, than when greater differences exist. Dur- 
ing the winter, in cold chmates, small openings suffice for 
the entrance of much fresh air. Larger opportunity for 
change must be given in warm weather. Neglecting for the 
moment the variable significance of the wind as an aid or 
hindrance to adequate ventilation, the reader can readily 
see that a system of ventilation or a set of rules devised to 
secure proper ventilation for some parts of our country would 
prove unsatisfactory and inefficient for other parts. The 
school authorities of those states which have equable climates, 
where the air outside is for the greater part of the year and 
especially the school day about the same temperature as 
that needed within the schoolrooms, have to make greater 
provisions to secure fresh air than do those who manage 
schools situated in states with colder chmates. 

DiflElculties of Ventilation in Warm Climates. — For example, 
the school authorities of California have a very difficult cH- 
mate with which to contend with respect to matters of school- 



144 School Hygiene 

room ventilation. For, in most parts of the state and for 
the greater part of the year, the outside air during the middle 
of the day differs but a few degrees from what it should be 
when reaching its greatest temperature within. Hence, when 
fresh air is most needed it is least likely to come in of its own 
accord, if one be allowed to express it so. What is true in 
this regard of California is also true to a greater or less degree 
of several other western, southern, and southwestern states. 
The rate of the incoming air can be easily measured and varies, 
as we have said, according to the difference in the temperature 
between it and the air within. While the air outside in these 
states is in the main unusually pure and wholesome, its proper 
introduction into the schoolroom and public buildings in gen- 
eral is not an easy matter. In the first place, rapid changes 
in temperature of the external air take place during the morning 
hours, so that frequent changes must be made in the positions 
of the windows to maintain regularity in the supply of fresh 
air. In the early morning hours, it may be that if the windows 
are all lowered eight to twelve inches, it will suffice; but at 
noontime such an arrangement would be entirely inadequate, \ 
for at this time and during the rest of the school day the tem- 
perature outside is nearly what it should be inside, and 
much less air would enter the schoolroom through the same 
opening than in the morning. It would not do, therefore, to 
set the windows for the day and expect proper ventilation. 
For in so doing we would either keep the room too cold in the 
morning, or fail to supply sufficient pure air in warmer parts of 
the day. 

It is necessary to introduce a steady and continuous supply 
of pure air and circulate it in order to make sure that the 
requisite amount of oxygen is maintained. It is therefore 
unsafe to attempt to provide pure air for schoolrooms in this 
natural way when the movement is necessarily irregular. But 
it is not an uncommon experience to see teachers wholly 
neglect this principle and undertake to satisfy hygienic de- 



Ventilation 145 

mands by an occasional change of air or by setting the windows 
to suit the temperature of the morning hours and leaving them 
so for the whole day. Busy teachers are not only forgetful, 
but they are unconscious of the increasing impurity of the 
air until harm has been done. 

To illustrate the importance of a knowledge of the principle here 
insisted on, permit me to refer to a bit of recent experience. A committee 
of intelligent and public-spirited women was appointed by the federated 
clubs of a certain city to look into the hygienic conditions of the schools. 
They visited a modern building of twenty rooms and among many other 
appliances new to them found that, instead of keeping the windows open 
for the introduction of fresh air, the air was being forced into the rooms 
by means of fans driven by an electric motor. Seeing the windows all 
closed, it appeared to them that the air must be very impure, despite the 
fact that it seemed good. Being called in consultation, I was told that 
it seemed very bad to them to deprive the children of fresh air by keep- 
ing all the windows closed, for it was a warm, bright summer day and no 
fire was needed. "Suppose," I replied, "you stop the fans and open the 
windows, what is going to make the air come in, and especially rush in 
fast enough to meet the needs of fifty children ? " The reply was, "Why, 
the air will just come in." It was only after a long explanation and many 
questionings back and forth that they appeared to understand that air 
was not alive and did not move in any direction without some adequate 
cause. Open windows had satisfied home demands, and they did not 
understand why it would not meet the same requirements in schoolrooms, 
especially on a warm, quiet, sunny day. And it must be acknowledged 
that school principals and superintendents are sometimes guilty of almost 
as much carelessness in their reasoning touching matters of schoolroom 
ventilation as were these women. 

Many principals whose buildings are equipped with fans 
for supplying sufficient fresh air, in order to cut down the 
expenses incident to driving the fans, direct their janitors to 
stop the fans in the afternoons when the air is warm outside 
and depend upon windows for ventilation. They do not seem 
to see that this is just the time and these are just the condi- 
tions when the fans are most needed. Warm, sunny, quiet 
days are just the days when children who are confined in 



146 School Hygiene 

schoolrooms suffer most when their teachers are compelled to 
depend on ordinary windows for ventilation. This is a plain 
simple doctrine, but ignorance of it is widespread even among 
teachers. 

Diffusion of Gases. — Again it will be well to note in this 
connection that the expired air leaves the nostrils at about the 
temperature of the body, and when the surrounding air is at the 
proper temperature, sixty-five to seventy degrees, it rapidly 
rises. Considering these facts alone, then, it would seem that, 
in order to have a sufficient amount of pure air, we would have 
only to note the air currents and to regulate them accordingly. 
But another principle is involved in such a way as to com- 
plicate things very much, and to render the process of securing 
pure air much less easy than it would otherwise appear. This 
complication is due to a principle already explained. When 
gases come into contact, even though one be lighter than the 
other, there is a strong tendency for them to mix. So, not- 
withstanding the fact that expired air may be lighter than 
the air into which it is breathed, its noxious gases will tend to 
spread themselves throughout the air in the whole room. It is 
a mistaken notion, and one that is responsible for much errone- 
ous practice, to suppose that all the gases and odors given off 
with the breath immediately thereafter seek the ceiling or 
floor and remain there until allowed to escape. 

On the other hand, it is sometimes argued, because carbon 
dioxide is heavier than normally pure air, that it will collect 
near the floor, and that, accordingly, some special openings 
are needed here to get rid of it. If a quantity of pure carbon 
dioxide were poured out of a vessel into the air of a room, it 
would, without doubt, settle to the floor, and for a time re- 
main decidedly more plentiful there than at any other point, 
but in time it would become diffused through the air. When, 
however, we consider the problem from the point of view of 
contamination through respiration, we see that, owing to the 
comparatively small amount of it thrown into the air with 



Ventilation 147 

each expired breath, there is ample time for its general diffusion 
throughout the room. 

Ventilation through Windows. — At the present time most 
country schools and even many village schools are equipped 
with no other means of ventilation than windows, and it is 
worth while to consider briefly what is best to do under such 
conditions. 

In warm or mild weather with windows on but one side of 
the room, it is better to lower all of the windows a sufficient 
distance to warrant an adequate influx of fresh air, than to 
lower one or two a much greater distance. It seems almost 
trivial to state such an obvious principle, but many teachers 
act as though they were utterly ignorant of it. It certainly 
is within the power of all teachers to see to it, when they are 
so situated that they must depend on windows for ventilation, 
that all of the windows are lowered ; but it is a rare thing 
indeed to find this carried out in practice. If the windows 
are raised from the bottom, there will be a draft directly upon 
the children sitting near; while if one or two windows are 
lowered too much from the top, there will either be a draft 
in that part of the room or much dead air in the corners. The 
proper management of the windows is an exceedingly impor- 
tant duty of the teacher, and she should be expected to govern 
herself accordingly. 

Window Boards an Aid in Ventilation. — In cold weather, 
so-called " window boards " are often very helpful. A win- 
dow board is simply a board cut the proper length to fit closely 
into the bottom of the window frame when the sash is raised. 
This done and the sash again pulled down closely against 
this board, there will be sufficient air space between the two 
sashes at their junction to admit fresh air and to give it an 
upward movement in the room. This board ought not to be 
any wider than the height to which it would be necessary to 
elevate the lower sash so that the upper part of its frame would 
sHp well past the lower part of the frame of the upper sash. 



148 School Hygiene 

If the board be wider, it will obstruct too much of the light and 
also be somewhat more difficult to handle. An improvement 
on the one-piece board may be made in the same way as the 
adjustable wire screens are made, or better still in the same 
way as the hinged screens for sleeping cars ; that is, by cutting 
them in the center and putting hinges on them so that they 
fold together. Such construction makes it easier for the 
teacher to adjust them in the grooves made for the window 
frame. 

These boards should be made to fit quite snugly, for they 
are devices that may be depended on only in very cold weather, 
and not even then with a room full of children and a faulty 
system of heating. They are helpful, though, and may be 
made by the boys of the upper grades or by any department 
mechanic. 

Open the Windows at Recess. — One of the common prac- 
tices of busy teachers is to throw the windows open at recess 
time and, as they say, " give the room a good airing." This 
is wise when the children are out of the room or can move 
about in it freely, but it is unsafe if some of the children for 
one cause or another are left seated at their desks. Their 
health would be endangered by drafts, and often the dust 
would be stirred up to be breathed by the children when they 
return. But many teachers depend upon these few airings per 
day to satisfy the requirements of proper ventilation. For 
the benefit of the cliildren so mistreated, I want to impress 
upon their teachers again some of the things already men- 
tioned. Each child of the primary grades should be furnished 
with two thousand cubic feet of pure air per hour, and those 
of the grammar and high school grades, twenty-five hundred 
or three thousand cubic feet per hour. This does not mean, 
as we have elsewhere suggested, that each child breathes this 
amount of air each hour, but each one vitiates tliis amount 
and renders it unfit to breathe. If, then, a room is thirty-two 
feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and twelve and one half feet 



Ventilation 149 

high, it would contain about ninety-six hundred cubic feet 
of air, for a part of the space is taken by the occupants and by 
the desks and other furniture. If a room of this size is used 
for fifty children of the lower grades, it would take less than 
six minutes for them to vitiate all the air in it. How, then, 
can any thoughtful teacher, one who really cares for chil- 
dren, shut them up in a box of this size and "air" it only once 
an hour ? Fortunately at such times the windows and doors, 
and the floors and walls, are not air-tight, otherwise there 
would be even more murders committed in the name of educa- 
tion than the vital statistics now show. But the plain truth 
that I want to impress is this : there must be a constant 
and regular supply of fresh air admitted and in such a quantity 
as to effect a complete change at least once every five minutes 
in any school building accommodating the relative number of 
children here mentioned. Of course, children can live in such 
buildings with an " airing " each hour, but they are not in condi- 
tion to work and are endangering their health and stunting 
their bodies. 

Need of Double Windows. — In the winter time in cold 
climates double windows are not only of great service in pre- 
venting loss of heat and precluding drafts from entering 
all about the windows, but they also furnish an opportunity of 
admitting the necessary fresh air in such a way as to scatter it 
fairly over the room. In the case of double windows, when 
the outer one is Hfted a Httle from the bottom and the inner is 
lowered an equal distance from the top, a current of air will 
pass up between the windows, enter the schoolroom near the 
ceiling, and scatter more or less completely over the room. 
During its passage between the windows, the air will be sUghtly 
warmed by reason of its contact with the inner panes, and 
will, in so far, descend in the room more slowly. A modifica- 
tion of this double- window device consists in a small station- 
ary supplemental upper sash on the outside, so that when the 
window is lowered the air cannot rush in directly, but is given 



150 School Hygiene 

an upward movement, thus tending to prevent drafts and 
also to scatter the air through the room. However, care must 
be taken in the use of all such devices, else the best light 
entering the room will be interrupted and dimmed. 

In some of the German schools one occasionally sees one or 
two upper panes of each window cut into strips and fastened 
in the center to a small rod and so arranged that they may be 
opened or closed, just as the slats on the old-fashioned window 
bhnds are managed. By turning these at the proper angle, 
the entering air is given an upward movement and somewhat 
more equally distributed about the room. 

At best, it is impossible to ventilate satisfactorily, at all 
times, a schoolroom with fifty children in attendance, by means 
of windows. The air cannot be distributed properly, drafts are 
frequent, wind currents cannot be managed, and above all on 
quiet, warm days there is no efficient cause operating to effect 
any adequate movement of the air either toward the room 
or from it. 

Sometime in the more enlightened future, we shall sufl&- 
ciently appreciate child life to reduce by one half the number 
of children now assigned to one room, and to give them all the 
pure outdoor air that wholesome life demands. 

Gravity Systems of Ventilation. — While, strictly speaking, 
ventilation by means of windows and doors is ventilation by 
the force of gravity, we cannot with propriety speak of venti- 
lation through windows as a system of ventilation. By the 
phrase "gravity system of ventilation " is meant a system de- 
vised for heating fresh air and then for regulating its admission 
into a room and its exit from it. In planning to furnish fresh 
air by means of any gravity system, it is clear that either the 
air must be heated before it enters the room, or else within the 
room itself, for no gravity system will introduce fresh air 
unless the atmosphere escaping from the room is at a higher 
temperature than the surrounding outside air, and therefore 
lighter. It will be seen at once, then, that a gravity system will 



Ventilation 151 

not work when warm days come and when the temperature 
outside is equal to or greater than that required in the room. 
The colder the outside air, the more efficient such a system is, 
and, vice versa, the warmer the outside air, the less effective. 

Home Ventilation and School Ventilation Compared. — In 
the case of homes heated and ventilated by furnaces placed 
in the basements, it will be comparatively easy to meet normal 
demands even when the outside air is but a few degrees lower 
in temperature than the air within, for a small but regular 
inflow of fresh air and a corresponding discharge of vitiated 
air will go far toward keeping a home pure and wholesome. 
But when one undertakes to supply pure air to fifty school 
children, he must in all reason, as we have pointed out else- 
where, introduce at least one hundred thousand cubic feet of 
pure air per hour and discharge an equal amount of vitiated 
air and do it in such a way as to create no troublesome drafts 
and at the same time to keep it moving and to maintain an 
equable and regular temperature. This can be accomplished 
by a gravity system only when a sufficiently great disparity 
exists between the temperature of the outside air and that 
within the schoolroom, or when a sufficient amount of heat is 
appHed in a thoroughly efficient system of aspirating flues. 
When the weather is cold, and steadily cold, a well-constructed 
gravity system will insure fair ventilation in schoolrooms, but 
under no other conditions is this practicable. Suppose, for 
example, the air outside is at the freezing point. The differ- 
ence between this and seventy degrees Fahrenheit, the maxi- 
mum temperature allowable in a schoolroom, would be thirty- 
eight degrees. If, under these conditions of temperature, a 
properly constructed gravity system of ventilation is set to 
work and carefully supervised, we may with some degree of 
assurance expect fair ventilation. 

In the first place, provision for the discharge of air from the 
room is as necessary as for admitting it, and the exits for 
such discharge must be so situated as to withdraw the vitiated 



152 School Hygiene 

air rather than the pure air just entering. Therefore it is 
necessary to consider the position, size, and shape of the ducts 
designed to admit fresh air and of those for the discharge of 
vitiated air. It seems to be determined with a reasonable 
degree of finaHty, all points considered, that the best position 
for the inlet duct, if one is used, is about eight feet from the 
floor a httle back of the middle of the inside wall opposite the 
windows. This position insures: first, the minimum waste of 
heat due to radiation induced by cold or damp walls ; second, 
no interference with the proper position of the windows in the 
room; third, it tends in most cases to shorten the necessary 
length of the duct from the hot-air chamber and also to prevent 
the necessity of making so many curves or elbows in the duct, 
and so materially reduces the friction as the air passes through ; 
fourth, if the duct is placed a Httle to the rear of the middle 
of the wall, it will insure a more complete circulation of the 
air about all the cliildren than if placed elsewhere, for the 
center of population in a schoolroom is always at a Httle dis- 
tance back of the middle of the room ; fifth, at the height of 
eight feet from the floor, especially if the terminus of the duct 
is properly made, the air can be scattered about the room with 
the least danger of producing drafts and the least Hkelihood 
of dislodging any dust particles clinging to the walls or ceiling. 
Size, Shape, and Position of Inlet Ducts. — The size of 
the ducts is a most important element in the success of any 
system of ventilation. It is my observation that more serious 
blunders have been made in undertaking to furnish sufficient 
fresh air through ducts of inadequate capacity than in almost 
any other element of ventilating systems. Because air is in- 
visible most school authorities forget to take into the calcula- 
tion the fact that there is much friction in its passage through 
these ducts. In addition to the reduction in the amount 
that any duct will carry by reason of this friction, drafts are 
more noticeable with small pipes than with large. For it is 
obvious that of two pipes furnishing the same amount of air, 



Ventilation 153 

the larger will deliver at a slower rate per second. No rules 
can be given here to fit all conditions, for the changes in tem- 
perature and the varying lengths of the ducts enter into the 
problem so as to complicate it greatly. It is, however, easy to 
see that the air current in a duct three feet wide and eight 
inches thick must travel at the rate of more than thirteen feet 
per second to furnish one hundred thousand cubic feet of 
air each hour, and this amount, we have seen, is required for 
each room of fifty children. Some one may object to these 
figures on the basis that fifty children are too many for one 
teacher to manage, and therefore it is not necessary to base a 
calculation on this number. Fifty children overcrowd the room 
and overburden the teacher, but it must not be forgotten that 
any system of ventilation must be devised to meet the needs 
that the common conditions of to-day may impose. Moreover, 
it does not seem probable that in the immediate future classes 
in primary schools will be reduced much below this number. 
Air entering a room at the rate of thirteen feet per second is 
likely to produce disturbing drafts and to keep the dust 
afloat unless the terminus of the inlet duct within the school- 
room is so constructed as to throw the air well toward the ceil- 
ing and at the same time to scatter it well over the room be- 
fore it reaches the level of the breathing line, in this way 
obviating any possible drafts. There seems to be no 
practicable possibiHty of enlarging the duct, and in this way 
reducing the rate. Indeed, it will be quite difi&cult to find 
room enough in an inner wall to accommodate a duct three 
feet wide, unless some special form of construction is designed 
to meet the need. Likewise it is very difficult to install a 
duct more than eight inches thick, inside measurement, and 
to keep its outside walls flush with the inside of the lathing ; 
and certainly neither the halls nor the schoolrooms should 
be disfigured by jutting the duct out past the walls. 

Of course the terminus of the duct leading into the room 
can be shaped so as greatly to relieve the rate and to turn 



154 School Hygiene 

the stream of air upward toward the celling and laterally 
toward the ends of the room, but even then, at times, it will be 
unsafe to risk such a rate as the quantity of air required and 
the size of the duct would demand. For most assuredly there 
will be no end of complaints from teacher and pupils if there is 
any suspicion of drafts, and the outcome of such a condition 
would be an order from principal, superintendent, or school 
board to close the duct partially near the hot-air chamber. 
To be sure, the dangers from drafts are often greatly exag- 
gerated by nervous teachers, and very often the very thing 
needed is more movement in the air of the room ; but there are 
some dangers to be avoided. 

Just such conditions as are here described exist in a ma- 
jority of the newer school buildings that have been constructed, 
regardless of careful calculations. Drafts are troublesome, 
and even dangerous, at times, but bad air is, in the long run, 
more to be dreaded, especially for rapidly growing children 
whose nervous systems are very sensitive and most readily af- 
fected by the lack, of oxygen. The necessary outcome of the 
calculation is, then, that it is better to have two fresh air ducts 
for each room, two feet wide and eight inches thick, with 
properly constructed flaring tops and sides and tilted gratings 
to direct the air upward and to scatter it thoroughly over the 
room. These two ducts ought to be in the inner wall and 
opening about eight feet above the floor. One should be about 
eight feet from the front end of the inner wall, while the other 
should be the same distance from the rear end of the inner wall. 
By this arrangement, with the form of opening mentioned, 
sufficient air can be scattered so as to prevent the possibihty of 
drafts and " dead air " anywhere in the room, especially if the 
exits are properly placed and of sufficient size. The placing 
of the exits is not an easy matter, for " short circuiting " 
the incoming currents of air must be avoided and a thorough 
mixing of the air accomplished. The exits must then be, in 
the main, on the same side of the room as the inlets to meet 



Ventilation 155 

these requirements most perfectly, and they should open near 
the floor. 

Arrangement of Exit Ducts. — At this point I wish to 
describe an arrangement of exit ducts that has proved entirely 
satisfactory in some thoroughly modern school buildings. It 
is well to say, however, that the arrangements described are, 
in the main, in connection with the plenum fan system, but I 
can see no reason why they would be less satisfactory than any 
other placing for a gravity system, providing, of course, the 
draft in the exit flues is aided by exhaust fans, gas jets, or some 
other method of heating. One exit, according to these plans, 
should be placed near the floor, about twenty feet from the 
cloak room and in the inner wall of the schoolroom, while the 
other is to be placed about eight feet from the floor in the inner 
end of the cloak room situated preferably immediately behind 
the teacher's desk, or, if exigencies of construction demand, at 
the other end of the room. But the air is to find its way to 
this latter exit by passing through openings in the lower third 
of the doors of the cloak room. By this arrangement, warm 
air circulates through the whole length of the cloak room, at a 
level with the wraps, and then passes out. At first thought, 
it might seem that this would not offer sufficient opportunity 
to change the air thoroughly in that corner of the room on the 
left of the teacher as she faces her pupils, and also that it 
would offer a chance for " short circuiting " over the heads of 
the pupils seated in the front of the room. But when one 
stops to consider the amount of friction that the current of 
air would have to overcome in passing through the cloak 
room, he can readily see that this would largely counter- 
act any such short circuiting in this direction. Furthermore, 
according to the plans in mind, the door from the hall would 
open into the schoolroom near the corner on the teacher's 
left and would offer a chance for the entrance and the escape 
of sufficient air to keep up the requisite circulation in this 
somewhat sparsely inhabited part of the room. 



156 School Hygiene 

The value of this method of ventilating the cloak rooms 
cannot easily be overestimated, for on damp, rainy days, 
the wraps are all dried and warmed and the possible odors 
from them have no chance of reaching the schoolroom. The 
danger from infection is lessened, and the discomfort and risk 
of wet wraps is reduced to a minimum. It will be remembered 
that we have elsewhere (see Chap. Ill, p. 38) called at- 
tention to this position of the cloak room as one designed to 
take advantage not only of this method of ventilation, but 
also to give the teacher easy control of the cloak room and to 
reduce to a minimum the possibility of pilfering. 

The exit near the middle of the inner wall of the school- 
room should be open and constructed somewhat after the 
fashion of a wide, rather low open fire place. I wish here to 
make a special plea for care and thoughtfulness in the construc- 
tion of this opening. If it be provided with a grating, it will 
invariably become the receptacle of bits of paper, dust-covered 
lint, and specimens of all the debris that finds its way into any 
schoolroom. If left open, it must be strongly and neatly con- 
structed so as neither to suffer from occasional bumps nor 
to offend the eye. It seems needless to say that no opening, 
either inlet or exit, should ever be made in the floor, for no 
amount of care could keep such openings hygienic and prevent 
the incoming air from Kfting a cloud of dust into the room. 
Recently some authorities have objected to passing air from 
the schoolrooms, through the cloak rooms, as here recom- 
mended, maintaining that the foul air should not come into 
contact with the clothing. The dangers suggested by them 
seem to be overestimated, for with sufficient ventilation the 
air passing through the clothing cannot be of such a nature as 
to leave any resulting bad effects. Naturally it would be 
better if a separate supply of pure air could be driven through 
the cloak rooms, but the probability that this can be done is 
very remote. The plan suggested is feasible and practicable, 
and the dangers so remote that little harm is possible. 



Ventilation 157 

Aspirating Flues. — The next question to consider, after the 
size, form, and location of the ducts have been decided upon, 
is the proper construction of the aspirating flues. These are 
significant in any system of ventilation, but especially and 
vitally so when the amount of air introduced depends wholly 
upon the force of gravity. Obviously, if no mechancial force 
is to be used, the vent ducts carrying off the vitiated air from 
the schoolrooms and cloak rooms must connect with some 
outlets to the upper air, and these must be so constructed and 
so heated as to create a draft sufficiently strong to exhaust 
approximately 100,000 cubic feet of air per hour from each 
room. The higher the top of an aspirating flue is above the 
room from which it draws its air supply, other things being 
equal, the less heat it will take to produce the required draft. 
But, from an architectural point of view, the height of such 
flues is Hmited by the height of the building, for it is not 
practicable to extend them more than a few feet higher than 
the roof. 

Hence, ample provision must be made to create a vigorous 
and regular draft in these flues in order to exhaust the vitiated 
air and to permit the free entrance of pure air. Many methods 
have been devised to this end, but they have in most cases 
been inadequate because of the unwilKngness of architects 
and schoolmen to incur the expense in construction and in 
operating necessary to insure success. In a twenty-room 
school building depending upon a gravity system of ventila- 
tion, there should be at least four large aspirating flues so 
situated that the ducts from the various rooms can lead into 
them as directly as possible and at an upward angle, for every 
curve or bend in a duct means added friction and lessened 
value. The main difficulty and expense comes in keeping the 
air in these exit ducts at a considerably higher temperature 
than that in the room. Many attempts have been made to re- 
duce the expense of this heating process by running the smoke 
pipe from the furnaces through the center of these aspirating 



158 School Hygiene 

flues and by depending on the heat from such a pipe to heat the 
air about it. In general, this method is a failure, first and 
chiefly, because in warm weather very little if any fire is kept 
in the furnaces, and, second, because the smoke stack by reason 
of its situation in the center of the flue, creates an undue 
amount of friction with the ascending currents of air. It is 
far better, where buildings are heated by steam, to install a 
series of steam coils in these flues and to depend upon the 
radiation from these to heat and to discharge the currents of 
vitiated air. These coils should be placed a short distance 
above the inlet of the foul air ducts so as to prevent any re- 
tarding effects due to direct radiation. 

No further specific direction in regard to the aspirating 
flues seems worth while here, for each school building offers its 
own special problems, and should be studied and planned by a 
competent architect — not merely a builder — who knows how 
to subordinate everything to the health and comfort of the 
generations of children involved. 

For the country schools or the small village schools where it 
is impossible to install a good central system of heating, the 
best aid to ventilation, aside from the proper use of the win- 
dows, is the so-called " jacketed stove." These may be pur- 
chased now in almost any market, and serve not only to 
introduce fresh air and warm it as it comes in, but also to pro- 
tect the children who, of necessity, sit near the stove. A good- 
sized jacketed stove, properly conditioned, will introduce on cold 
days a fair amount of fresh air, but of course it is useless for 
purposes of ventilation in warm weather. 

In order to get the best results with a stove of this sort, it 
is necessary to have an extraction flue into which the vitiated 
air of the room can be drawn by means of a draft created 
therein by an open fire or a flue-heating pipe. This extraction 
flue should open near the floor on the inner wall, if possible, 
and on the same side of the room as the stove. The jacket, as 
suggested above, should be higher than the stove, slightly 



Ventilation 159 

flaring at the top, and should completely inclose the stove save 
at the door, through which the fire receives its fuel and its 
draft of air. The inlet duct should be sufficiently large to 
render the passage of the air free and easy, and the jacket 
should spread a Httle at the base and fit snugly to the floor. It 
is best, too, to construct the building in such a way that the 
floor joists will run toward an outer wall and thus prevent 
cutting them to admit the inlet duct. (For further discussion 
of the " jacketed stove," see the chapter on " Heating.") 

But when all is said and done, there is no good and ade- 
quate excuse for installing an expensive gravity system of 
ventilation in any large school building, unless such a building 
is situated in a cold climate and the school session is hmited 
mainly to the cold months of the year. It is my opinion that, 
during even medium cold weather, it is safer to depend for 
ventilation on windows than upon any gravity system yet 
developed. 

Mechanical Means for Ventilation. — By a mechanical sys- 
tem of ventilation is meant a system of ducts, inlets, and exits 
arranged, as we have indicated under a former topic (see page 
152), and in addition a fan or fans so arranged as to drive the 
air in (the plenum system), to pull it out (vacuum system), or 
both to drive it in and at the same time, by means of a suction 
fan, aid in creating a draft in the exit ducts. There are 
some advantages and disadvantages in each of these systems, 
and, without entering too much into detail, let us examine 
them separately. 

The Plenum System of Ventilation. — The plenum system, 
as its name indicates, is devised to drive the fresh air into the 
schoolroom and to depend on this force alone in warm weather 
to crowd out the vitiated air. Under these conditions the air 
in the schoolroom will be of somewhat greater density than the 
outside air at the same elevation, providing that the tem- 
perature in the room is equal to that outside. But since, for a 
large part of the school year, the air outside may be colder than 



i6o School Hygiene 

that within, the difference in density will be so slight as to be 
practically negligible, so far as its sensible effect on breathing 
is concerned especially if the exit ducts offer as little friction 
to the escaping air as their proper construction should insure. 
Seeing, then, that the air in the schoolroom has a slightly 
greater density with the plenum system, it is clear that during 
calm weather this makes it possible to control the source from 
which fresh air is admitted. There is a leakage, but this 
leakage is always away from the schoolroom rather than 
toward it. That is to say, all of the air entering a schoolroom 
under these conditions of necessity comes through the ducts 
directly connected with the fan and from a selected source. 
This offers opportunity, if there be need, to filter the air 
so as to remove dust and dirt, to moisten it if it is too dry, 
to warm it if it is too cold, or to remove some of its moisture 
if it is too humid. For example, if for one reason or another 
a school building must be placed near a busy street or a dusty 
roadway, the plenum system, if properly installed, would 
permit all the fresh air to be drawn from the side farthest re- 
moved from the street, hence insuring cleaner and purer air 
than could be secured by any other system. Provision may 
also be made, and should be made if conditions warrant, to draw 
the air through an opening some distance from the ground, 
thus further obviating the danger of dust and also reducing 
the possibility of contaminations by avoiding the vitiations 
usually contained in the ground air. 

Naturally it will require less force to deliver a given amount 
of fresh air in a schoolroom when the entering air is warmer 
than the air outside, but by the use of the plenum system air 
can be forced in and made to circulate in the room and escape 
therefrom even if the outside air is as warm or warmer than that 
within. This fact is of the greatest importance, for no system 
of ventilation will meet all requirements if it is not capable 
of insuring an adequate supply of pure air regardless of rela- 
tive temperatures. 



Ventilation i6i 

Source of Air for Plenum System. — Architects and school 
officers too frequently give no thought to the source from which 
fresh air is to be supplied until the site for a building is chosen, 
the plans drawn, and the building is in process of construction. 
Then it is usually too late to make amends.^ No janitor will be 
able to keep such a building clean, until some method of filter- 
ing the dust out of the air is installed, or unless the intake for 
the fresh air is moved to the rear of the building and high above 
the level of the street. But even if the janitor can find a 
way to remove the dust at the close of each day, during the 
school session the children must breathe dirty air and suffer 
the consequences. Apparently many architects have not yet 
learned that one of the most vital elements in any school- 
house plan is that which has to do with adequate and rational 
ventilation. 

Large Fans Needed. — One serious mistake is often made in 
instalUng the plenum system by selecting fans too small to do 
the work required of them without running them at a high 
rate of speed. A large fan properly constructed and carefully 
set while running at a low speed rate will deliver the amount of 
air required without making any appreciable noise, or setting 
up any noticeable vibrations. On the other hand, if the fan 
is so small that it must be run rapidly to introduce the requisite 
amount of air, it is Hkely to set the air into rapid vibrations 
and communicate to the various rooms with which it is con- 
nected a buzzing noise, which, at times, is very troublesome 
and annoying. Furthermore, the wear and tear incident to 
the rapid motion of a fan will in a short time offset the differ- 
ence in the initial cost between it and a larger one, not to 
mention other trouble and delays. No rules can be given here 

^ I have in mind at this time an expensive and, in the main, well-planned 
school building, situated near a busy street, from which clouds of dust are stirred 
up at frequent intervals and, to make matters worse, the architect actually 
set the fans to draw the air from the street side of the building, and near the 
ground at that. 

M 



1 62 School Hygiene 

that will apply with equal exactness to all kinds of fans, for 
the amount of air that they will deliver depends not alone on 
their size, but also upon their form of construction. When 
school authorities are planning to install such a system, the 
only safe thing for them to do is to put in a fan system suffi- 
ciently large to insure an adequate supply of pure air in each 
room under all conditions when the fans are running at a mod- 
erate rate of speed. False economy will often dictate another 
course, but no honest engineer or agent will knowingly rec- 
ommend such procedure. 

Location of Fans. — There are decided advantages in the 
plenum system too, growing out of the fact that the fan or 
fans may be placed in the basement, while in the exhaust 
system these are most economically managed and run when 
set above the rooms to be ventilated. When fans are situated 
in the basements, they can with greater ease and much less 
expense be firmly embedded in the cement floor and so discon- 
nected from the main structure that no vibrations or jarrings 
will be produced when they are running. When fans are placed 
in the attic, they are too far removed from the janitor for careful 
supervision, for most of his time during school hours must of 
necessity be spent in the basements, overseeing the furnaces, 
the closets, etc., and keeping things in repair. It is far easier 
and hence more economical to have all the machinery within 
easy reach and quick control. But the most important ad- 
vantage of the plenum system grows out of the fact that, 
when properly installed, one cannot only control the source 
of all the air delivered to the schoolrooms, barring the effects 
of adverse winds, but can easily measure the amount delivered, 
and in this way he may be certain of the degree of purity or 
impurity of the air that the children must breathe. On the 
other hand, when the exhaust system is in use, air will come into 
the room through every possible opening, bringing dust and 
whatever bad air may lurk in the vicinity of such openings. 
Moreover, it is much more difi&cult, if not practically impos- 



Ventilation 163 

sible, to measure the amount of air drawn into a room by an 
exhaust fan, for, as we have said, under such conditions air 
will be forced into the room through every possible opening, 
and on windy days will create havoc with, any heating and 
ventilating system. 

The Effect of Winds on Ventilating Systems. — Thus far 
we have taken no specific account of the wind and its effect on 
ventilation, and all too frequently this variable is not con- 
sidered at all. But all who have had any practical experience 
in striving to maintain proper heat and equal distribution of 
fresh air in buildings where ventilating arrangements are the 
same for exposed and unexposed rooms, will appreciate some 
attempt to correct this difficulty. 

In the first place, school buildings are by no means impervious 
to the passage of air through the walls and ceilings as well as 
about doors and windows. But where rooms have unilateral 
lighting and consequently nearly half of the outer wall surface 
is used for windows, it is patent that especial care is needed to 
see that these fit closely in order to prevent the warm air in the 
room from escaping, as well as to prevent the cold air outside 
from being blown into the building. In cold cHmates double 
windows are economical as well as hygienic necessities. These 
are perhaps as important, too, on the leeward side of a building 
as on the windward. When the wind strikes a building, the 
amount of air driven into it on the windward side will depend 
on the aggregate of cracks and crevices for it to enter, the 
amount of air pressure or lack of it in the room, the force 
of the wind, and the angle at which it strikes the building. On 
the leeward side, the amount exhausted from it will depend on 
the aggregate of cracks and crevices through which the air 
may be drawn out, the amount of air pressure or lack of it 
in the room, and the suction power of the partial vacuum 
created by the cleavage of the wind by the building. On the 
windward side a strong plenum condition, or high pressure of 
the air in the rooms, will operate to resist the inflow of the air 



164 School Hygiene 

from without. On the other hand, a similar high pressure 
condition in the rooms on the leeward side will aid materially 
in the exhaust set up by the low pressure condition outside. 
And here we have a principle any practical ventilating system 
must meet. On the windward side a greater pressure is needed 
within, and the currents of air must be driven in at a higher 
speed rate to overcome the resistance of the currents forced in 
by the wind. MoreoN'cr, since it is evident that under nor- 
mal plenum conditions a smaller amount of air will be driven 
through the exhaust outlet than will come in through the inlet 
duct, the relative size of these ought to vary to suit the demands. 
For example, on a calm day we can expect less outflow through 
the exhaust ducts than is driven in through the inlet ducts, for 
under a plenum condition some of the air, indeed much of it, 
will often find an exit about the windows or even through the 
walls. But as pointed out above, this is all changed in windy 
weather; for then on the windward side it is evident that 
more air will be exhausted than is supplied through the inlet 
duct unless some handicap is placed on the exhaust duct or 
an undue plenum condition is maintained. On the other 
hand, on the leeward side the reverse condition will take 
place, and more air will be driven in through the fresh-air 
duct than will pass out through the exhaust duct, for the rea- 
son that the low pressure without on this side will cause much 
air to escape around the windows and through every possible 
crevice in the wall and ceiling. Hence, on tliis side, additional 
draft is needed through the outlet duct to maintain the 
proper circulation and the consequent purity of the air at the 
breathing line. 

Tests made by Mr. H. W. WWtten and others, and reported 
by him at a meeting of the American Society of Heating and 
Ventilating Engineers held at Indianapolis in 1909, make the 
above discussion more explicit. He says : — 

"A few typical tests made by the writer and others during the past 
winter in this connection should be of interest. 



Ventilation 



165 



"The first test is of a school building, rectangular in shape, the ends 
of the building facing north and south, having stairway windows only 
in these ends ; east and west sides divided into schoolrooms, each having 
five windows five feet wide by nine feet high, window sills on a level with 
tops of pupils' heads when seated ; windows having usual clearance ; 
rooms heated by a fan system designed to supply 1800 cubic feet of air 
per hour per pupil with inlet velocity of 750 feet per minute ; wind north- 
west, velocity 14.5 to 15 miles per hour ; outside temperature 3.3 degrees. 
Room No. 5 situated on the east side of first-floor building, one room re- 
moved from south end, showed an average rate of supply velocity of 
817 feet per minute and a vent velocity of 340 feet per minute. Inlet 
and outlet of same size. Inlet eight feet above floor, outlet at floor and 
both on opposite side of room from windows. This showed a loss of 457 
feet per minute. An air test of this room showed ten parts of carbon 
dioxide in 10,000. This loss was practically all above the breathing 
line, and frequent complaints of headaches among scholars occurred. 

"Other rooms on the east side of building showed as follows : — 



First floor, Room No. 3 

First floor. Room No. 6 

Second floor. Room No. 13 

West Side : 
First floor. Room No. 7 (partly sheltered) .... 
Second floor, Room No. 14 (exposed to strongest wind 
efl'ect) 



Rate of 


Rate of Yen 


Supply 


TILATION 


760 


410 


753 


396 


690 


31S 


660 


700 


410 


70s 



" Temperatttre Control in Use in the Building 

"Average temperature east rooms at the breathing level, 73 °; at floor, 70". 
Average temperature west rooms at the breathing level, 68°; at floor, 58°. 

"A test of another school building with wind at eighteen miles per 
hour and outside temperature 30 degrees, building heated and venti- 
lated by gravity indirect system, showed an average of 20 per cent loss 
from the supply ducts in rooms on the windward side and an addition of 
60 per cent to the vent velocity. 

"Rooms on the leeward side of the building showed an addition of 



i66 



School Hygiene 



3 per cent from the supply velocity and a reduction of 62 per cent of the 
vent velocity. 

"A school building having a few corridor windows on the north side, 
and schoolroom windows on the east, south, and west, was tested with 
typical results, as follows : Wind, twenty miles per hour ; direction, 
northwest. Room No. 26 on east side of building, two movable windows 
seven feet wide by nine feet high, one tight window ten feet wide by nine 
feet high, sills level with breathing level. Inlet eight feet from floor, 
four feet from east wall, volume of air supply 2340 cubic feet per minute ; 
volume of air passing out vent, 145 1 cubic feet per minute. 

"Room No. 28, south side of building, near east end, windows same as 
No. 26; volume of supply, 1862 cubic feet per minute; volume of air 
passing vent, 131 1 cubic feet per minute." 

A test made by Mr. A. B. Franklin of Boston and the Massa- 
chusetts district police on a school building some years ago is 
also interesting. 

" Wind twenty-five to thirty miles per hour, and blowing toward a 
majority of windows in the building : — 



Roou Number 



11 (exposed) . . . 

12 (exposed) . . . 

13 (exposed) . . , 

14 (exposed) . . . 

15 (partly sheltered) 

16 (partly sheltered) 

20 (exposed) . 

21 (partly exposed) . 

22 (partly exposed) . 

23 (partly exposed) . 

24 (partly exposed) . 

25 (partly sheltered) 

30 (partly exposed) . 

31 (exposed) . . . 

32 (sheltered) . . . 
Hall (sheltered) . . 

35 (partly sheltered) 
34 (partly sheltered) 

36 (exposed) . . . 



Air StrppLY at Inlet 


Air Vent 


PER MiNCTE 


Outlet per Minute 


i>S36 


2,367 


1,533 


2,307 


1,996 


2,838 


2,244 


2,990 


2,200 


2,368 


760 


80s 


1,694 


2,391 


2,517 


2,777 


1,609 


2,031 


2,253 


2,762 


1,389 


1,653 


2,301 


2,288 


1,984 


2,394 


568 


1,154 


1,602 


1,773 


7,833 


5,786 


2,153 


2,442 


1,863 


2,148 


933 


1,404 



Ventilation 167 

"A high school biiilding was recently tested by Professor H. C. Ander- 
son of Michigan University, there being some question as to whether the 
heating contractor had put in a competent apparatus (fan system). 
The supply seemed of sufficient quantity and temperature, but rooms 
on the exposed sides of the building could not be satisfactorily heated. 
After shutting down the fan the supply ducts were closed in the rooms on 
the exposed side of the building, and, with all doors and windows closed, 
it was found that as much air was being removed from the vent ducts as 
the fan system was supposed to supply. During this test the outside 
wind was of moderate velocity. 

"Tests of several buildings in which the leakage about outer openings 
had been standardized by means of a metal expansion joint showed an 
average difference between supply and vent flow of lo to 15 per cent, 
the greater part of this being due to difference in temperature of air at 
these points." ^ 

It is obvious that the amount of variations here reported, 
will not only explain many troubles, but that these results will 
necessitate new calculations and improved devices to overcome 
the difficulties. It is to be hoped that additional experiments 
of a Hke kind will be made in different parts of the country and 
under different conditions of temperature and wind velocity. 
The results of these experiments will, as it seems to me, render 
the further installation of exhaust fans in school buildings 
altogether questionable, unless they can be disconnected from 
the ducts coming from the windward side of the building. It 
would be of great service on cold, windy days if an exhaust fan 
could be attached to the ducts exhausting the air from the 
rooms on the leeward side ; but since the winds are so variable, 
two exhaust fans would be necessary to meet this demand. 
The exit ducts would have to be arranged accordingly, and the 
fans run or not according to the direction and velocity of the 
wind. There are two practical suggestions growing out of this 
discussion that may be utilized especially in the country and 
in villages. Windbreaks in the way of trees and hedges at the 

^ See School Board Journal, October, 1909, p. 13. A shorter report may also 
be found in Engineering Record, Vol. 60, No. 10, p. 264. 



1 68 School Hygiene 

proper distance on the north and west side of school buildings, 
especially those of one story, would greatly lessen the diffi- 
culties experienced on cold, windy days. But a more practi- 
cable suggestion and one within the reach of those who build 
schoolhouses is this : count on trouble from cold winds and see 
to it that the walls of school buildings are as impervious to 
currents of air as they can well be made, and insist on close- 
fitting window frames and double windows where needed. 

Further discussion of the plenum system at this point seems 
unnecessary, for the arcliitect and school boards must settle 
the size, style, and number of these systems for each individual 
building. The matter ought to be emphasized, however, in 
every pertinent way possible. School boards are derelict in the 
performance of their duty when they do not get and pay for 
expert service in planning a fan system of ventilation for each 
style of building erected, when they fail to specify in their 
contracts the exact requirements of each, and especially when 
they do not insist on careful tests to determine whether or not 
their contract has been fulfilled before final payment and ac- 
ceptance is voted. 

In this connection it may be well to repeat that an anemome- 
ter should be a part of the equipment of every school system, 
for it does not require much practice or any expert calculations 
to determine at any time the efficiency of a plenum system in 
the rooms with which it is connected. This instrument is 
simply a small windmill geared to a dial attachment by means 
of which the rate of a current of air may be determined readily. 
Hence, by knowing the rate of the incoming current under 
given conditions, and the size of the inlet duct, the quantity of 
air delivered in a given time may be readily calculated. The 
only special precaution needed is to make a sufficient number 
of tests at various places over the entrance orifice to get a 
mean rate as a basis for calculation. Other means of exclud- 
ing error will readily suggest themselves to any principal or 
superintendent capable of managing a system of schools. 



Ventilation 169 

Tests to determine Efficiency of Ventilation. — The school 
superintendent or principal who cannot wait for expert tests 
must have some means of testing the air of schoolrooms, 
to determine the effectiveness of the ventilating system, or to 
meet objections urged from time to time by patrons and the 
pubHc in general. One of the best methods of indirect estima- 
tion of impurities in the air of the schoolroom is the sense of 
smell. Let the superintendent send the teacher from a room 
where the air is foul into the fresh air for a few minutes, and 
then ask her upon returning to the schoolroom whether she finds 
the air pure. The sense of smell is fatigued veryrapidly, and to 
the teacher who has been confined in the room the air may not 
seem bad, as it must to one who enters a badly ventilated room 
from the fresh air. Such a test, of course, furnishes no figures 
as to the relative proportions of carbon dioxide and oxygen, or 
of the amount of deleterious gases of any sort ; but it does 
furnish unmistakable evidence as to whether the air is whole- 
some or unwholesome, pleasant or unpleasant, to breathe. 

Another indirect method consists in determining the amount 
of fresh air furnished to each pupil per minute or hour, and in 
calculating on the basis of this supply the relative purity of the 
air in the room. This method is practicable only when the 
plenum system of ventilation is used, when there are no dis- 
turbing winds, and when an anemometer is available. Under 
these conditions any careful observer may get fairly accurate 
numerical results. 

There have been a number of specific methods devised to 
determine the amount of carbon dioxide in the air of the school- 
room, but for the most part they are either too complicated 
for the ordinary teacher to use successfully without a good 
deal of practice, or else, if simple, they are not sufficiently 
accurate to give reliable information. Of these tests, but two 
will be described here, and either of these can be used to ad- 
vantage after a little practice by any ordinarily careful 
teacher. The results obtained from several experiments may 



lyo School Hygiene 

be sufficiently accurate to warrant certain definite conclusions 
regarding the effectiveness of any system of ventilation. 

Chemical Tests. — The apparatus devised by Wolpert is 
simple and consists of a chart, a test tube of given size and 
shape, and a rubber bulb of known capacity fitted with a glass 
tube. On the bottom of the test tube there is painted a black 
mark, and around the tube a little more than an inch from the 
bottom a ring for measuring purposes is ground in the glass. 
The tube is usually supported in a simple frame. When the 
tube has been thoroughly cleaned, and the requisite amount of 
a saturated solution of lime water poured into it, air is then 
gathered from the room by means of a rubber bulb and forced 
through the Hme water. The percentage of carbon dioxide in 
the air may then be determined from the chart by noting the 
number of times the bulb must be emptied before the water 
reaches such a state of cloudiness as to make the black mark 
invisible as one looks down through the water. It requires 
some skill to empty the bulb without splashing the water or 
without withdrawing some of the water as the bulb is re- 
moved. With care, results may be obtained that will warrant 
a conclusion, especially when the air contains an undue amount 
of carbon dioxide.^ 

The Fitz method, devised by Dr. W. G. Fitz, of Harvard, is 
more complicated, but after the liquid required has been pre- 
pared, it may be used easily and rather quickly. This ap- 
paratus and the method of testing the air may be described 
briefly. There are six small vials of a given dimension 
fitted with rubber corks. These are to hold the solution 
used to make six tests. Larger tubes of special size and make 
are furnished in which a given amount of the air of the school- 
room can be mixed with a vial of the solution. By reference to 
a table furnished, the percentage of carbon dioxide may be 
determined. The liquid used consists of a weak solution of 

* The set is inexpensive and may be purchased from Codman and Shurtleff, 
Boston. 



Ventilation 171 

lime water containing a few drops of phenolphthalein. The 
exact proportions to be used and the methods of preparing the 
solution are explained in the directions accompanying each set. 
My experience with this test shows that although the directions 
are not clearly stated, when used with care, and when all the 
conditions are properly met, it will give more regular and 
accurate results than the Wolpert method.^ The apparatus 
and the materials used in each of the tests mentioned above 
require Httle or no knowledge of chemistry on the part of the 
experimenter. In the hands of any careful observer they 
may be very helpful in connection with the hygienic super- 
vision of schools. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1 . How long would it take forty children of the sixth grade to render 
the air in a schoolroom thirty-two feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and 
twelve and one half feet high unfit to breathe, all doors and windows 
being shut, and no wind blowing ? On the basis of your answer calculate 
the amount of air that should be introduced into this room each minute. 

2. What physical principle is the basis for all forms of gravity sys- 
tems of ventilation ? 

3. Work out for your schoolroom the best possible methods of venti- 
lation with the conditions furnished. Give reasons for the methods 
preferred. 

4. Under what conditions of body, of humidity, of temperature, and 
window openings are drafts to be especially avoided ? Other things 
equal, is a draft from an entirely open window more or less dangerous 
than one striking the body from a window slightly opened ? 

5. Is night air necessarily any more dangerous than midday air? 
How did the prejudice against night air grow up ? 

6. State clearly all the advantages and disadvantages of each of the 
methods of mechanical ventilation. 

7 . Note the effect on the attention and interest of children and adults 
who are confined in churches, theaters, schools, or public assembly rooms 
of any sort, without sixfficient pure air. 

1 The set is prepared by L. K. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston. 



172 School Hygiene 

8. Study the effects of the winds on the heating and ventilation of 
your schoolroom. 

9. Why does proper circulation of the air in a schoolroom bring 
much relief ? 

10. Find the most practicable and reliable test that you can use to 
determine the purity of air in a schoolroom. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Billings, J. S. Ventilation and Heating. New York, 1893. 500 pp., 
illus. 

Carpenter, R. C. Heating and Ventilating Buildings. New York, 1896. 

Morrison, G. B. The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings. 
New York, 1887. 181 pp. 

Report of Special Committee, American Society of Heating and Ventilat- 
ing Engineers. Heating and Ventilating of Schools. Metal Worker, 
Plumber, and Steam Fitter, v. 77, pp. 570-572. 191 2. 

Thomson, W. G. Ventilation Problems in Hospitals and Schools. The 
Heating and Ventilating Magazine, May, 191 2, pp. 11-16, and 
June, 1912, pp. 21-25. 

WiNSLOW, C. E. A. The Scientific Basis Jor Ventilation Standards. 
Proc. N. E. A., 1911. pp. 977-985. 




^^liMi^iiilMMr 




I' It.. 




I'lu ,u 0|n-ii .\ii Mili.nil. Ki'fcvloiN Km, Mm K 11 Wliv Hot moFcof Uiislor 

lu-.illln ilul.lu'ii,' ^roiiiU-.N liiv.loK S» Imol I'oiiimillcf) 



CHAPTER XII 
OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

The Beginnings for Open-air Schools. The movement for 
oi)en-;iir schools, both in Uiis country and in Europe, grew out 
of the success attained in the treatment of tuberculosis and 
scrofulous diseases in camps and open-air sanitariums. 

At first these schools were called vacation camps or forest 
schools. The first buildings were constructed in the form of 
covered sheds with one or more sides left entirely open. 'Hiey 
were usually located In forests, i)arks, or gardens, and used 
only in vacations during the warm months. The idea gradually 
developed, as the good influence of such treatment was ob- 
served, that, if the fresh air was so hel|)ful to those seriously 
alllicted, it ought to be furnished in the same way to the 
anaemic and weaker children, who were still able to attend the 
regular schools. Here lh(> idea of prevention entered and this 
is now beconn'ng the prevailing consideration in the organiza- 
tion and develo|)ment of this movement. It has been deter- 
mined that, while forests and gardens are valuable adjuncts, 
an open-air room on the roof of a city school l)uilding, or even a 
reconstructed or remodeled room within such a building, will 
scTve fairly well for this purpose. The main requisites arc 
fresh, clean air, comfortable surroundings, good food, and some- 
thing interesting to do. 

Special Clothing needed in Cold Climates. — In the begin- 
ning these schools or camps were in session only during the 
warmer months of the year, but the fear of cold air is gradually 
giving way, and now many open-air schools are in session 
through the winter. Naturally special wraps and clothing 
are necessary to keep the children comfortable and at the same 

173 



174 School Hygiene 

time to allow them sufl5cient freedom for work. Fig. 32 shows 
an open-air schoolroom in Chicago in cold weather, and the 
peculiar " Eskimo suit " evolved for the children. 

"These Eskimo suits are simply double-breasted pajamas cut from 
heavy woolen blankets. They are to be worn over the other clothing, 
large sizes being used and the legs and sleeves shortened to fit the indi- 
viduals. To the collars are fastened hoods with tape so placed as to tie 
snugly about the face in severe weather. The outfit is completed by a 
pair of heavy felt boots, the soles covered with material like the suit, with 
a thick interlining of paper." ^ 

Some open-air schools, notably in Providence, Rhode Island, 
provide, in addition to special suits, sitting-out bags and 
warming stones for the feet. 

The use of the latter, however, seems necessary only in 
very cold weather if due care is taken to have the feet warm 
and shoes dry before putting on the outer suit. Of course 
the clothing best suited to any locality will depend on the 
climatic conditions. 

There seems to be no reason why such rooms should be left 
without a roof, or at least some covering that may be adjusted 
to keep out rain, sleet, and snow. This would render the prob- 
lem of clothing much easier to solve. The only possible ob- 
jection that can be made to a permanent roof is the loss of 
sunshine during midday. 

Semiopen-air Rooms. — It is not necessary to build a 
special building in order to start an open-air school. Any 
schoolroom may be turned into a semiopen-air school, if it 
has good exposure and hinged windows. Experience has 
proved that a good method of hinging the windows is to fasten 
them to the top of the frame, and by means of a pulley and cord 
lift them inward and upward to the ceihng. Naturally this 
will necessitate strong sashes all in one piece, and fitted at the 

^ Open-air Crusaders, a report of the Elizabeth McCormick Open-air 
School, edited by Sherman C. Kingsley, and published by the United Charities 
of Chicago, 51 La Salle St. 



open-air Schools 



175 



bottom and sides, so that when closed they protect the building 
from beating rains. A better arrangement will doubtless be 
possible in some buildings. 

It may often prove an advantage to begin with the use of 
such a room, so as not to encounter opposition at once. 
Here the anaemic children from the whole building, regardless 
of grade, may be gathered, and they may serve as a constant 




Fig. S3. — Winter dress for the teacher of an open-air scliool. 

object lesson to the whole school. Comparatively little expense 
need be incurred in starting the movement, in this way. 

Apparatus and Furniture needed, and Examination of Chil- 
dren Important. — Some provision must be made for movable 
and adjustat)le desks, chairs, tables, and, in cold weather, for 
convenient wraps and blankets. In addition to necessary 
furnishings in the room itself, the princii)al, if he exi)ects to 
determine with any exactness the effects of fresh air on such 



176 School hygiene 

children, must make careful notes of the height, weight, general 
physical condition, and appetite of the children at the begin- 
ning, and as often as necessary throughout the experiment. 
Platform scales carefully adjusted will be needed from the first, 
and the children should be weighed at least twice a week. 

The teacher for such a room must be selected because of her 
sympathy with the movement, and must know how to adjust 
herself to a new order of things. She ought to keep record of 
all that would show good or evil effects upon the children ; 
in fact, she ought to be a trained nurse as well as a trained 
teacher. The medical inspector, where such an ofl&cer exists, 
will naturally take the initiative in directing both teacher and 
principal in all that pertains to the physical welfare of such 
children, and make a record of the results of a more technical 
diagnosis from time to time. 

Benefits of Open-air Schools and Sleeping Porches. — In 
the long run the greatest benefit from open-air schools will come 
as a by-product. People should learn the value and necessity 
of pure air, and the open-air school will be the most effective 
agency and apostle in proclaiming this doctrine. The cities 
of the southeastern and south central divisions of our country 
will have little difficulty in turning rooms of their school 
buildings into open-air rooms, if they will properly orientate 
tljeir buildings, and make larger windows with hinged sashes 
so that they may be thrown open. Due to the fact that the 
south still has large forests and extensive vegetation every- 
where, abundance of sunshine, and less smoke and dust than 
almost any other part of the country, the outside air is low in 
carbon dioxide and rich in oxygen. And yet because the people 
live in houses badly ventilated and often constructed so as to 
bar the sunshine from living rooms and bedrooms, and also 
because disease germs have more time during the year to do 
their work in this moist climate, tuberculosis is making terrible 
ravages. The people all over this land, especially in the south, 
ought to be taught to build sleeping rooms on open balconies, 



open-air Schools 177 

well protected from mosquitoes, and once for all disavow the 
superstition that night air is dangerous to breathe. Some one 
has said that the only night air that is dangerous is last 
night's air. 

In hot moist climates the restfulness of cooling breezes is 
alone an abundant compensation for the expense incurred in 
building outdoor sleeping rooms. But the wholesome and 
invigorating results of breathing pure air during sleep will 
multiply this compensation many fold. Each country school- 
teacher ought to include in her general lessons on hygiene a 
discussion of the value of outdoor sleeping rooms, and sug- 
gest simple plans for their construction. When the people 
are taught the value of fresh air, schools will have less diffi- 
culty in securing proper appliances for ventilation, and fewer 
anaemic children with whom to deal. 

Outdoor Work an Aid in Teaching. — One interesting dis- 
covery has been made in connection with teaching in those 
open-air schools situated in forests or parks, and that is the 
fact that so much advantage can be taken of the immediate 
surroundings for illustrative and teaching material. In nature 
study, geography, history, and all those studies that have to do 
with physical environment, stronger direct appeal can be 
made than when the children are in regularly constructed 
schoolrooms. It has been found that even the teaching of 
arithmetic can be made far more concrete and personal when 
the children measure distances, calculate the size of trees, and 
other objects near at hand, and make computations on these 
results. But these are only by-products ; the real helps come 
through better health, gain in weight, and added haemoglobin 
in the blood. 

Resulting Benefits of Open-air Schools in Other Countries. 
— The reports on open-air schools in Germany, England, and in 
this country show conclusively that a very large percentage of 
the children who have attended these schools for a reasonable 
length of time were much improved in health and general 



178 School Hygiene 

physical vigor. Three English open-air schools, with two hun- 
dred thirty pupils in attendance from sixteen to nineteen weeks, 
reported in 1908 that careful tests made at the beginning and 
end of the term showed that all save nine of the pupils gained 
haemoglobin ; that one hundred and one gained from 10 to 20 
per cent, and sixty-eight gained 20 per cent or more. The gain 
in weight was also striking ; but as the children were given a 
different diet and perhaps in greater abundance than that to 
which they had been accustomed, these gains might, in part, be 
accounted for in this way. The fact, however, that many gained 
in a few weeks at a rate much above the normal goes to prove 
the assumption that the chief cause of the rapid increase of 
weight was the fresh air, wholesome sports, and the general 
air of quiet freedom all about them. The gain in haemoglobin 
in the blood is especially significant. It means greater capacity 
of the red corpuscles to carry oxygen to the tissues, and this 
impHes a higher type of activity throughout the whole body. 
One of the important features of open-air schools as they are 
managed in England consists in the midday rest and sleep 
period. This usually occupies about two hours, during which 




Fig. 35. — Rest after luncheon. Elizabeth McCormick Open-air School, Chicago. 
(From a photograph by the author.) 

the children in proper weather are placed upon cots in the open 
air. If cots cannot be provided, heavy canvas spread on the 
grass will serve the purpose. A small pillow may be used, and 
when the air is chilly, some covering is necessary. From such 
treatment a large proportion of the children gain in general 





Fig. 36. 



■ Open-air school work. Shrewsbury House, Woolwich, England. 
Education Committee, London County Council.) 



(Courtesy 



open-air Schools 179 

health and vigor, as evidenced by the reports of their regular 
teachers and parents as well as by those of the medical ofl&cers. 
Along with the increased demand for open-air schools in 
cities and villages, in foreign countries, so-called " vacation 
colonies " have brought relief to many children. This plan 
consists in sending a group of children from cities, usually 
in the long vacation period, into the country for a fortnight or 
so of schooling at the expense of local public authorities or 
local charity organizations. Sometimes the school authorities 
afford no further help than that incident to the employment 
and compensation of the teacher. In Germany and France 
this method has for the past two or three years brought some 
relief to thousands of city children whose home Hfe offers little 
opportunity for wholesome, clean Hving. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Why is it that country folk are likely to criticize teachers who 
undertake to do part of their regular school work out of doors ? How 
may such objections be most readily overcome ? 

2. Devise ways and means for introducing some regular outdoor 
school work during good weather. 

3. Collect pictures and drawings showing the construction of open-air 
school buildings, sleeping porches, and summer camps. 

4. Collect all the statistics that you can get with reference to the effect 
of fresh-air schools upon the health and vigor of the teachers and pupils. 

5. Are people naturally better adjusted to living in doors or out of 
doors ? Why ? 

6. Why is there less danger from a draft out of doors than in doors ? 

7. Under what conditions are colds most readily contracted? Why? 
8: Is the following prophecy of the Massachusetts Association for the 

Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis likely to come true at an early 
date ? "The time is coming and is not far off when all children will be 
in open-air rooms, and all schools will be open-air schools." 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Ayers, L. p. Open-air Schools. New York, 1910. 171 pp., illus. 
Balliet, T. M. Open-air Schools and the Children who should benefit 



i8o School Hygiene 

from Them. Report III Congres International d'Hygiene Scolaire. 

Paris, 1910. pp. 310-315. 
Brannan, John W. Open-air Schools in the United States. Proc. 

American School Hygiene Association, igii. pp. 177-181. 
Carrington, T. S. How to build and equip an Outdoor School. Survey, 

V. 24, pp. 144-151, Ulus. 
KiNGSLEY, S. C. Open-air Crusaders. Chicago, 1910, 107 pp., Ulus. 
Watt, W. E. Open Air. Chicago. 282 pp. 



CHAPTER XIII 
HEATING OF SCHOOLROOMS 

Proper Temperature for a Schoolroom. — The question, 
What is the proper temperature for a schoolroom ? cannot be 
answered satisfactorily simply because conditions in our 
country are so varied. 

In some parts of the country where the outside temperature 
is never very low, and the humidity high, a temperature of 
sixty to sixty-five degrees in the schoolhouse is more satis- 
factory than in other parts where the outside cold is severe, 
and where, by reason of the lack of moisture in the heated 
air, a temperature of from sixty-eight to seventy degrees is 
required. 

In England, where the climate is moist and moderate, rules 
prescribe as the maximum sixty-five degrees. In parts of 
our country, by reason of the lower temperature in winter and 
the consequent low humidity of the air when raised to a tem- 
perature high enough to satisfy the demands of teachers and 
pupils, the minimum must be raised in some places as high as 
seventy degrees Fahrenheit in order to maintain comfort. 

Loss of Heat from the Body. — Our bodies have great power 
to maintain the normal temperature of the blood and tissues. 
Heat is being constantly produced in the living organism, 
and if this heat had no way of escaping, it would rapidly in- 
crease until life would be impossible. On the other hand, if 
we had no means of retaining the heat in very cold weather, 
equally disastrous results would occur. 

In cold weather we increase our clothing and build fires. 
In hot weather we reduce our clothing, and in various ways 
accelerate the loss of heat. In general heat escapes from our 

i8i 



1 82 School Hygiene 

bodies in the three following ways : by radiation, conduction, 
and evaporation. 

If you were to heat an iron on a stove and then remove it, 
it would soon grow cold. The heat from it would escape 
chiefly by radiation and conduction. If you were to hold it 
close to your face, you could feel the heat waves leaving the 
iron. If you were to bring it into contact with a piece of cold 
metal or ice, it would rapidly lose some of its heat by conduction. 
In addition to these methods of losing heat our bodies per- 
spire, and as this moisture evaporates the temperature of the 
skin is reduced, for it is a principle of physics that evaporation 
from a surface always tends to reduce its temperature. We 
are always surrounded by air, and the condition of the air has 
to do, directly, with the loss or retention of heat in the body. 
If the air is cold, and there is much moisture mixed with it, 
heat escapes from our bodies at a rapid rate, chiefly as the re- 
sult of radiation and conduction. This explains why cold 
and damp weather is so " penetrating." If the air is mild and 
dry, radiation and evaporation are rapid. Hence we can 
stand a high temperature, if there is Httle moisture present, 
better than a much lower temperature with much moisture. 

In the hot valleys of California or Arizona, the air is very 
dry in summer, and the heat intense. But it is very rare to hear 
of any one being overcome by the heat. It is less dangerous 
to work there in a temperature of one hundred ten degrees 
Fahrenheit than it would be in a moist chmate with a tempera- 
ture at ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. 

In general, then, when the air is moist and warm, the body 
loses its heat slowly, but when it is dry and warm it loses its 
heat more rapidly. Hence it is necessary to maintain a 
higher temperature in schoolrooms under the latter condition 
than the former in order to be comfortable. It is plain, there- 
fore, that the proper temperature for a schoolroom will depend, 
in part, upon climatic conditions where the school is situated. 
A temperature of sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit is satisfactory 



Heating of Schoolrooms ' 183 

if the air is moist, but it will not be comfortable if the air in 
the room is dry and harsh. 

Well-constructed Buildings greatly simplify the Problem of 
Heating. — • A building with single floors and badly constructed 
walls demands greater variations of heat than one constructed 
on hygienic principles. One with thin, open floors will show 
such variations in temperature between the floor Hne and the 
breathing hne that children would suffer in cold weather even 
if a temperature were maintained that would be entirely com- 
fortable in a better building. 

The Relation of Clothing to Temperature Required. — The 
kind of clothing worn by the children and teacher enters into 
the problem. Children furnished with proper underclothing 
naturally reqmre less artificial heat to maintain comfort than 
those more thinly clad. The teacher, as far as possible, 
ought to take this fact into account when matters of heating 
are under her control. 

The Age of the Pupil a Factor in Heating. — The younger 
children, especially those who have m.ore adipose or fatty 
tissues surrounding their bodies, need a lower temperature in 
schoolrooms than those who are not so protected against cold. 
For this reason, other things being equal, boys suffer more from 
cold and generally require thicker clothing than girls. 

The Nature of the School Work a Factor in Heating. — 
Where the body is active, more heat is produced than when it 
is quiet, and hence if the work of the schoolroom is so organized 
as to demand of the pupils greater activity, the temperature 
of the room may be reduced. Manual-training work, gymnas- 
tic exercises, and other Hnes of work making demands on the 
muscles, call for lower temperature than quiet, seat work. 

The Kind of Food supplied is also an Element in the Arti- 
ficial Temperature Required. — In the cold countries of the 
Arctic region the people eat a great deal of fat. This is not a 
mere matter of taste and food supply. One gram of fat will 
Uberate more heat in the body than two grams of carbohy- 



184 School Hygiene 

drates (sugars, starches, cellulose, etc.), and hence these people 
demand much fat for food, in order to develop and maintain 
the required heat in their bodies. 

Children who eat meats and butter, other things being equal, 
require less artificial heat to maintain a comfortable body 
temperature than those whose diet includes less fats. 

Local Conditions must be Considered. ^ In general it may 
be said that no definite and exact degree of temperature can be 
prescribed for schoolrooms, for local conditions must always 
enter into the problem. Because England and the countries 
of continental Europe, especially Germany, France, and Hol- 
land, set a lower minimum than we, it does not necessa- 
rily follow that we are in error when we set a higher limit. 
Experience has taught us that during cold weather it is often 
necessary for us to maintain a temperature of sixty-eight de- 
grees in our schoolrooms, or else prescribe special clothing for 
children to wear while at study, if we would keep them com- 
fortable. But, as already shown, this will depend on many 
factors, and especially the amount of moisture in the air. If 
we could do away with the desert-Hke air of our schoolrooms 
and furnish pure air with normal moisture, we could reduce the 
temperature, and at the same time be comfortable. 

Methods of Heating Schoolrooms. — In the following para- 
graphs short accounts are given of the various methods of 
heating, and the relative values of each. " The reader must 
understand, however, that no attempt has been made to treat 
these exhaustively. The books and articles referred to at the 
close of the chapter ought to be consulted by those teachers 
and school officers who are seeking more critical and extended 
information on this topic. 

The Open Fire. — One of the best, but also one of the most 
expensive, methods of heating a room in a well-constructed 
dwelhng house is by means of the open fireplace. It is best 
because it furnishes not only heat, but also excellent venti- 
lation. In earlier days this was the common means of heating 



Heating of Schoolrooms 185 

schoolhouses ; but it was wasteful of fuel, and required much 
care. The open fireplace as the sole source of heat supply 
has almost vanished from schools as well as from homes. 

Out of twelve hundred ninety-six rural schools, recently re- 
porting to the United States Bureau of Education from nine- 
teen states, only one reported a fireplace. Attention is called 
to the fact that the open fire in a school, when it is properly 
cared for, so as to reduce the danger from setting fire to the 
building, may be made a very valuable auxiliary to any method 
of heating. It aids in ventilation, furnishes an opportunity to 
dry wet clothing and shoes, to take off a slight chill in the air 
when a fire in a furnace, or under a boiler, would raise the tem- 
perature too high ; and it creates a circulation in the air and 
thereby renders a general system of heating more effective. 
It furnishes cheer, and makes a schoolroom seem more homelike. 

Heating with Stoves. — About half of the country and vil- 
lage schools are still heated by the ordinary box stove, 
usually situated in the center of the room. Under such con- 
ditions it is impossible for teachers to regulate the tempera- 
ture of the schoolroom properly. Those children who sit 
close to the stove suffer from heat, or else those at a distance 
suffer from cold. Except on very mild days when Httle fire 
is needed, it is impossible to maintain an equable temperature 
in all parts of the room. Some rehef, in cold days, may be 
had by keeping a Vessel of water on top of the stove, and in 
this way introducing more moisture into the air ; but the use 
of the box stove for heating schoolrooms ought to cease, be- 
cause better methods are now available. 

The Jacketed Stove. — The ordinary box stove may, at 
Httle expense, be turned into a jacketed stove. This may be 
done by moving the stove to a corner of the room, surrounding 
all sides of it save the door with a sheet-iron casing, set six or 
eight inches from the stove, and connecting this space with the 
outside air by means of a carefully constructed fresh-air duct. 
The jacket ought to fit closely to the floor, and about the 



i86 



School Hygiene 



door of the stove, and extend a few inches above the top of the 
stove. As the stove is heated, the air about it will lighten 
through expansion, and rapidly pass upward into the room; 




Fig. 37. — A jacketed stove. 



while the fresh air from outside will rush through the duct to 
take its place. This cold, fresh air will keep the stove from 
overheating, and at the same time, when warmed, will enter 



Heating of Schoolrooms 187 

the room. A circulation of air will thus be established, which 
will tend to equalize the temperature in all parts of the room. 

There are on the market now a number of specially made 
jacketed stoves that are much more satisfactory and sanitary 
than any transformed box stoves can be made. 

Fig. 37 shows the construction of one of these stoves. In 
this case, however, instead of the fresh-air duct entering under 
the stove, it comes in through the wall above the floor, and 
enters the jacket in such a way as to distribute the incoming 
air all about the heating surface. The fresh-air duct is not 
visible on this cut, but it enters through the wall directly fac- 
ing the observer. The large pipe, extending almost to the floor 
to the right of the stove, is the foul air exhaust. The small 
pipe emerging from within the jacket at the top of the stove, 
and entering the larger pipe a short distance above the top 
of the jacket, is the smoke pipe from the heater within the 
jacket. This small pipe, as may be seen, continues upward 
through the larger pipe, to prevent danger from sparks 
dropping down the larger pipe to the floor, and trouble from 
lack of draft in the heater. 

Jacketed Stoves as Aids in Ventilation. — Any observant 
person who will study the construction of this stove will 
readily see that in cold weather there will be a rapid inflow 
of air through the fresh-air duct and out into the room from 
the top of the jacket. 

He will also see that the larger pipe, visible at the right, is 
designed for the escape of air from the bottom of the room, 
by reason of the heat applied through the smoke pipe running 
up through this larger pipe. Hence this stove is designed not 
only to furnish warm, fresh air, but also to help rid the room 
of foul air, and thus maintain a circulation of fresh air, near 
the breathing line. 

Jacketed Stoves are not Effective as Ventilators save in 
very Cold Weather. — Advertisements of jacketed stoves 
that emphasize their effectiveness as ventilators are often 



1 88 School Hygiene 

misleading and false. No jacketed stove now on the market 
will or can aid to any appreciable degree in ventilating 
schoolrooms in mild weather, for it is obvious that if Kttle 
heat is needed, little fresh air will come in. These stoves are 
effective as heaters ; and although they cost more than they 
should, they are to be recommended in all cases where furnaces, 
hot-water, or steam heaters are not practicable. 

About one third of all rural and village schools in the country 
are now suppHed with jacketed stoves. They are, however, 
far more common in the North than in the South. 

Heating by Hot-air Furnaces. — Strictly speaking, the only 
essential differences between a hot-air furnace and a jacketed 
stove are these : the jacket to the furnace terminates in one 
or more closed ducts leading to rooms above ; and is therefore 
always designed to be located on a lower level than any room 
that it is intended to heat. It is placed in basements, and 
is suppKed with fresh air through a shaft or duct connected 
with the outside air at a higher level. The furnace is a central 
heating plant and possesses advantages over a jacketed stove, 
in that it is removed from the schoolroom and is designed to 
furnish heat to a number of rooms. 

The Advantages and Disadvantages of a System of Hot- 
air Furnace Heating. — Briefly and untechnically stated some 
of the advantages of this system of heating are as follows: 
(i) It aids materially in securing ventilation in cold weather. 
(2) It is cheaper to install than any other system of central 
heating. (3) It requires less technical skill to manage than 
either steam or hot water. (4) It is better adapted to mild 
climates where there is need to raise the temperature com- 
paratively few degrees ; and especially where a httle heat is 
needed in the mornings, and none, or comparatively none, 
at midday. (5) It requires no special attention during hoH- 
days in cold weather, as steam and hot-water heaters do. 
(6) It offers opportunity to introduce moisture into the air 
without much expense. 



Heating of Schoolrooms 189 

Some of the disadvantages may be stated as follows : — • 
(i) There is danger that as the result of faulty construction, 
or warping by overheating, some of the gases hberated by 
combustion in the fire box may pass through into the air ducts 
leading to the schoolrooms. 

(2) Overheating or " scorching " the air as it comes into 
contact with the outer surface of the fire box, or combustion 
chamber. 

(3) It is liable to rather rapid fluctuations unless heated by 
oil, or by a uniform fire. 

(4) It is not effective in very severe weather unless a very 
large heating surface is available. 

(5) It is generally more expensive in fuel requirements. 

In those sections of our country having mild winters the 
hot-air furnace is, however, one of the most satisfactory sys- 
tems available for heating small or medium-sized school 
buildings. The chief difficulties encountered, aside from: those 
mentioned, have arisen from the fact that furnaces are often 
improperly installed. A furnace badly located, and suppUed 
with air ducts not properly proportioned to insure an equal 
distribution of heat to the various rooms of a building, will 
always cause trouble and dissatisfaction. But this difficulty 
may be avoided, if those who install a furnace are both honest 
and exact in the calculations needed to make the ducts of the 
proper size, and to place them properly. AU school authorities 
should insist on disinterested, professional advice before in- 
stalling a hot-air furnace. 

Steam Heating. — The use of low pressure steam as a means 
of heating large school buildings, especially those situated 
in cold cHmates, has increased rapidly in the past decade. 
Some of the advantages of this method of heating classrooms 
may be stated as follows : — 

(i) The boiler room may be in a disconnected building, and 
one set of boilers may be made to serve several buildings. 

(2) Steam furnishes a comparatively steady heat, and may 



I go School Hygiene 

be managed for direct heating by radiators in the room to be 
heated, indirect heating by warming fresh air to be conducted 
to the rooms, or by a combination of both methods. 

(3) It furnishes an easy method of proportioning heating 
surfaces to the rooms. 

(4) It does not scorch the air. 

(5) It is fairly economical, and the heat may be easily dis- 
tributed. 

There are also some disadvantages : — 
(i) It requires trained engineers to operate it economically 
and safely. 

(2) It is not economically adapted to mild climates, or to 
mild weather conditions. 

(3) It requires constant care during cold weather, vhether 
school is in session or not. 

(4) In case radiators are used in the schoolroom, they are 
often sources of " hammering " noises. 

(5) Repairs are often frequent, and there is always danger 
of leakage. 

Steam-heating apparatus requires more care and gets out 
of order much oftener than any other system now in general 
use, save perhaps the hot-water system. This is due to the 
fact that the radiators, of which a great number are required, 
are often quickly heated and as quickly cooled ; thus by rapid 
expansion and contraction joints are opened, and these are 
often hard to close. Moreover, the boiler requires expert care 
in order to minimize the danger incident to the use of confined 
steam, and to guard against deterioration through the accumu- 
lation of sediment and precipitations. Leaking flues and 
steam fittings require the expensive services of expert 
mechanics. 

Hot-water Heating. — In the main what has been said con- 
cerning the difficulties with a system of steam heating will 
apply to hot-water heating. One distinct advantage of a hot- 
water system over steam lies in the fact that it is more satisfac- 



Heating of Schoolrooms 191 

tory in mild weather, since, in order to secure a circulation of 
water in the pipes, it is not necessary to heat it to as high a 
temperature as cold weather requires, to supply sufi&cient 
heat. This would not only serve to economize in fuel, but 
would make it possible for the janitor to do a large part of 
the regulation of the temperature in the rooms by means of 
the intelligent adjustment of fires. Another advantage of 
hot water Hes in the fact that it gives a more regular supply 
of heat, of a more acceptable quality than either the steam or 
the hot-air furnace provides. But it is a slow method, and for 
cHmates subject to sudden and decided fluctuations in tem- 
perature, it is unsatisfactory for school purposes. There are 
some disadvantages as compared to steam occasionally over- 
looked. It seems to require better joints to avoid leakage than 
does steam, and this may mean much trouble. By reason, too, 
of a slower rate of circulation due to lack of central pressure, 
there is more danger of unequal distribution of the heat. 
This, however, may be overcome in large measure by proper 
grades, or by suction pumps properly connected with the re- 
turn pipes. But pumps necessitate a separate steam-power 
plant or motor to run them. 

Thermostats. — All modern systems of indirect heating 
of school buildings depend on some form of thermostat to 
regulate the temperature of the schoolrooms. A thermostat 
is a device for regulating the mixing of the warm and cool air 
to be dehvered to a classroom. If a thermostat is set to main- 
tain a given temperature, say sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, 
and the air in the rooms registers less, the thermostat will auto- 
matically cut off cold air through the inlet duct, and will open 
the damper to give free entrance to the warm air. If the tem- 
perature of the room goes above sixty-eight degrees Fahren- 
heit, then the opposite action will result. Cold air will be 
given preference. By the careful use of thermostats in con- 
nection with indirect heating, the temperature of a schoolroom 
may be automatically regulated so as to vary not more than 



192 School Hygiene 

two degrees. Thus great relief to busy teachers and to pupils 
is possible, and an observant fireman may make much re- 
duction in fuel bills. No modern school building is complete 
without some effective thermostat system. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. By the use of a hygrodeik, hygrometer, or sling psychrometer, 
determine the humidity of the air in the schoolrooms under your super- 
vision during various conditions of the weather, and note the difference 
in the temperature required for comfort. 

2. Is it possible to set an exact maximum or minimimi temperature 
for schools in aU parts of our country ? Why ? 

3. Determine the variations in temperature during cold weather in 
different parts and at different levels of your schoolroom. To what 
causes are such variations due ? 

4. What is the best location for a thermometer in your classroom, all 
things considered ? 

5. If direct radiation is used in a classroom, where should the radia- 
tors or stove be placed ? 

6. Taking all things into consideration, which is best for schools, 
heating by direct radiation, indirect radiation, or a combination of both 
methods ? 

7. Work out clearly whether furnace, steam, or hot- water heating 
would best suit the climate in which you are teaching. Give adequate 
reasons for your conclusions. 

8. Determine clearly what physiological conditions must be met in 
order to ascertain the proper temperature for schoolrooms, at a given 
humidity percentage. 

9. In general is the temperature ordinarily found in our schoolrooms 
too high or too low ? 

10. Make a careful study of the effectiveness of the various kinds of 
heating apparatus found in the schools in your state. Compare the costs 
of installation, repairs, and fuel in all such systems. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Baldwin. Steam Heating Data. New York, 1897. 365 pp. 
Billings, J. S. Ventilation and Heating. New York, 1902. 500 pp. 
Briggs, W. R. Modern American School Buildings. (Chap. 11.) New 
York, 1909. 411 pp. 



Heating of Schoolrooms 193 

Carpenter, R. C. Heating and Ventilating Buildings. New York, 

1910. 562 pp., illus. 
Clay, F. Modern School Buildings. (Chap. 25.) London, 1906. 

555 PP- 
Jacob, E. H. Ventilation and Warming. London, 1894. 



CHAPTER XIV 
HUMIDITY IN THE SCHOOLROOM 

Air does not absorb Water. — We are told by Professor 
Marvin that it is " a false notion that air has a certain capacity 
for moisture," and that it is wrong to say that " the air is 
partly saturated with moisture." " It should always be 
clearly observed," he continues, " that the presence of the mois- 
ture in any given space is independent of the presence or ab- 
sence of air in the same space except that the air retards the 
diffusion of the vapor particles. It is more correct to say that 
the space is partly saturated with moisture, or that the moisture 
is in a partly saturated condition or is superheated." He 
therefore advises the use of the phrase " weight of a cubic 
foot of saturated aqueous vapor," not " weight of aqueous 
vapor in a cubic foot of saturated air." ^ 

Need of Humidity in Schoolrooms. — The amount of 
aqueous vapor present in the air to be delivered to schoolrooms 
is a matter of much direct importance to the health and to the 
comfort of the pupils and teachers. The dry, harsh, desert- 
like condition often found in schoolrooms is both unpleasant 
and unhygienic. Such a state of dryness offers httle hindrance 
to the escape of the moisture from the body, and especially from 
the hning membranes of the air passages, leaving them dry 
and harsh. As remarked elsewhere (see p. 195), this condition 
is favorable for attacks of pathogenic germs, for, without their 
coating of mucous exudations, these delicate tissues are directly 
exposed. When the normal habitual and hygienic amount 
of moisture is present, there is neither that unpleasant harsh- 

' See Psychrometric Tables. W. B. No. 235, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, Weather Bureau, p. 8. 

194 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 195 

ness that irritates the temper as well as the skin, nor will it 
be necessary to maintain as high a degree of temperature for 
comfort. When the normal amount of aqueous vapor is 
mixed with the air, the rate of evaporation from the body will 
be lowered and the accumulated heat in the body will render 
a lower temperature of the air entirely comfortable. Thus it is 
highly advisable not only from the point of view of health 
and comfort, but from economy of fuel to supply our school- 
rooms, especially in winter, with a larger percentage of moisture 
properly mixed with air. But it may be argued that a 'dry 
cHmate, such as abounds for a good part of the year in the semi- 
arid regions of the southwest part of our country, is very 
healthful as evidenced by the great numbers of sick people 
who annually seek health in such cHmates and often with 
success. Hence why not keep the air of the schoolroom dry 
even if it does parch the skin and dry up the moisture of the 
air passages ? This question may be answered by sajdng that 
in these dry arid cHmates there are few pathogenic germs or 
bacteria of any sort floating in the air, and the air is not so dry 
as in most schoolrooms on cold days. In parts of the region 
mentioned a piece of fresh meat may hang for days in the air 
with a temperature of 70° F. without spoiling. This could not 
be the case even in mild weather in the atmosphere of a moist 
climate. 

A parched throat and dry nasal passages in a moist climate 
will have to run many more risks of infection than where the 
air is warm, but almost free from disease germs. In cold, 
moist cHmates, if a child leaves a schoolroom heated to a tem- 
perature of 68° F. with harsh skin and dry passages, and 
goes out into a cold, moist air, there are not only dangers due 
to sudden chills, but to infection by the germs of influenza, 
pneumonia, diphtheria, etc., which are almost always lodged 
in the air passages awaiting their opportunity. The irritation 
of the Hning membranes thus produced gives them the needed 
opportunity. 



196 



School Hygiene 



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198 School Hygiene 

Russell says : " Influenza, typhus, relapsing fever, smallpox, 
whooping cough, croup, pneumonia, not only prevail most 
in cold weather, but in cold countries where there is least 
outdoor life and least fresh air in rooms and most crowding. 
Diphtheria increases with the cold weather of autumn, but 
tends to decline in February, and is at a minimum during the 
hot months." ^ 

Amount of Moisture mixed with the Air. — The amount of 
moisture in the form of vapor found with the air varies greatly 
in different locahties at different seasons of the year, and at 
different hours during the day. From a series of investiga- 
tions made by Professor Alfred J. Henry of the Weather 
Bureau, the table on pages 196 and 197 is taken to show the 
variations in relative humidity in a number of different places, 
at different months of the year, and at different hours during 
the day. 

The most striking feature of this table, from our point of 
view, is the regular decrease in the humidity during the 
warm part of the day, that is, during school hours. " The 
diurnal variation," he says, of relative humidity in its simplest 
phase (p. 13) is as follows : " The maximum takes place 
during the early morning hours, and the minimum from i 
to 4 P.M., being simply the inverse of the daily temperature 
changes." Naturally this table represents conditions as they 
exist out of doors and under varying degrees of temperature. 

The main trouble with reference to lack of humidity in con- 
nection with furnace air supplied to schoolrooms during cold 
weather comes from the fact that only a small amount of 
aqueous vapor can exist with cold air, and when this cold air 
with even its maximum humidity is heated and expanded the 
relative percentage of saturation is greatly decreased. At a 
temperature of twenty degrees Fahrenheit no more than about 
1.235 grains of water in the form of vapor can find lodgment in 

' See The Atmosphere in Relation to Human Life, Francis Albert Rollo Russell, 
Smithsonian Report, 1896, p. 272. 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 199 

a cubic foot of space. But when the temperature reaches sixty- 
eight degrees Fahrenheit, there may be found as much as 7.48 
grains. But if the air at twenty degrees Fahrenheit is raised 
to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit without furnishing any oppor- 
tunity for additional moisture, and is forced into the school- 
room under these conditions, we can at once see that there 
will be only a little over one seventh of the amount of vapor 
required for saturation. If sixty per cent of saturation is taken 
as the average or normal condition of the outside air, and this 
you will see by reference to the tables is too low for the places 
named, then in order to bring the humidity in the school- 
room to this amount of saturation it would be necessary to 
introduce mechanically into each cubic foot of air an amount 
of aqueous vapor equal to 2.37 grains. If for each child twenty- 
five hundred cubic feet of fresh air is needed each hour to keep 
the air pure, then a Httle over one pound of water, less the 
amount evaporated from the body and given out through the 
medium of expired air in the form of vapor, ought to be intro- 
duced each hour per pupil in order to maintain sixty per cent 
saturation in the schoolroom. In very cold weather this 
percentage of saturation would probably cause moisture to 
gather on the windows, and in time would serve not only to 
hinder the light, but by reason of its precipitation, and probable 
revaporization near the windows, the percentage of saturation 
would tend to increase. The results of experiments made in 
Boston under the direction of the Board of Education seem 
to warrant the assertion that from forty to fifty per cent of 
saturation is desirable on very cold days. Their report says: 
" It was found that on mild, bright days, even a higher per cent 
was permissible, but on cold days it was objectionable in some 
rooms. ... On the sunny side with 50 per cent moisture there 
was very Httle condensation on the windows. On the shady 
side it was objectionable, and the teachers complained of a 
dampness in the air. This was probably due to the extra cool- 
ing of the air next windows and walls on the shady side, which 



200 School Hygiene 

tended to raise the percentage of humidity in part of the room 
to perhaps 70 per cent or more." Summing up their conclu- 
sions on the question, "How high a percentage of moisture is 
desirable?" they say, "Considering buildings, then, as a 
whole, about 40 per cent humidity in very cold weather and 50 
per cent in ordinary winter weather seems about right." This 
estimate seems very low when compared with those made by 
authorities on hygiene. Wilson says, " In a room well ven- 
tilated and warmed the humidity ought to range between 73 
and 75 per cent."^ On just what basis he made this estimate 
he does not state ; but he was writing primarily for the condi- 
tions that prevail in England. 

If we wish to raise the temperature of a cubic foot of air 
from twenty degrees to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit with 
as much aqueous vapor mixed as a temperature of twenty 
degrees Fahrenheit will permit, and at the same time to 
offer no opportunity for the entrance of any further mois- 
ture, we will have a moisture in this warmed air with 
less than twenty per cent saturation. But if, as is much more 
likely to happen, when the outside air has a temperature of 
twenty degrees, the moisture present is only a seventy per cent 
instead of complete saturation, then such air raised to sixty- 
eight degrees Fahrenheit without additional moisture, will 
contain in the neighborhood of twelve per cent saturation, a 
condition not found even in desert air.^ 

Moisture increased from the Body. — This question now 
presents itself : how much moisture would be drawn from 
the skin and breath of school children if they were at work 
under such a condition ? In other words, how much rise in per- 

' See Handbook of Hygiene and Sanitary Science (Eighth Edition), George 
Wilson, M.A., M.D., etc., p. 152. 

2 These calculations are based on Table XIII, pp. 83-84, of W. B. No. 235 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This very interesting bulletin was 
prepared by Professor C. F. Marvin, and is entitled Psychrometric Tables for 
Obtaining the Vapor Pressures, Relative Humidity, and Temperature of the Dew 
Point. 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 201 

centage of moisture could we count on after such air was warmed 
to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit and driven into the room ? It 
is manifestly impossible to answer this question with any reason- 
able degree of accuracy, for the conditions are so variable as to 
forestall anything like a generally accurate estimate. In the first 
place, the rapidity of the circulation of the air in the room would 
be the largest variant factor. If the air remained unchanged 
for some time, that is if circulation of the air were impeded 
for any reason, naturally the moisture would continually 
increase up to the saturation point. If the air moved into the 
room and out again at such a rate as to entirely change the 
air from five to six minutes, then it is clear that the rise in 
moisture would be less rapid and would not reach a high 
percentage. Most texts on physiology declare that expired 
breath is completely saturated with moisture. Howell says : 
" The expired air is warmed nearly or quite to the body tem- 
perature and is nearly saturated with water." ^ But surely 
this can only be true under normal conditions. It does not 
seem possible that the skin will continue to give off as much 
moisture after it has been exposed to dry air for two hours as it 
did when entering such air. Neither does it seem at all prob- 
able that the lining tissues of the air passages, parched and 
dry from rapid evaporation, would supply the regular amount 
of moisture both on account of cell fatigue and the overde- 
mands made on the supply of water in the tissues. However, 
if we calculate on expired breath containing a saturation of 
moisture, and the temperature of the expired air at ninety-five 
degrees Fahrenheit, there would be thrown into each cubic foot 
of expired air the difference between 17.124 grains (the amount 
of moisture in complete saturation at ninety-five degrees 
Fahrenheit) and the amount received in the pure air introduced 
plus the amount thrown out from the skin. Neglecting for the 
moment the amount gathered through evaporation, we would 
have 17.124 grains less 1.235 grains, the amount with which we 

^ See Textbook of Physiology, W. H. Howell (Second Edition), p. 613. 



202 School Hygiene 

started, or less than sixteen grains to distribute in one hundred 
cubic feet ; for under hygienic school conditions we ought to be 
suppKed with one hundred times more air than we breathe. 
Each expired breath contains a hundred times more carbonic 
acid gas than pure air contains, and hence one breath will vitiate 
one hundred other possible breaths. This would add .16 grain 
to each cubic foot of the twenty-five hundred needed for each 
pupil of the high school or upper grammar grades, totahng 
less than 1.30 grains of moisture in each cubic foot. With 
the temperature at sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit and the 
amount that the air held before warming, this addition would 
increase the amount of moisture to a saturation of less than 
twenty per cent. If this percentage of saturation were raised to 
twenty-five, it would certainly cover all the added moisture 
thrown out in the breath and through the skin. Hence, under 
a satisfactory system of heating and ventilation, with the air 
of the room changing completely every five or six minutes and 
the temperature maintained at sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, 
the amount of moisture in the air under the conditions assumed 
would not total one half the normal amount. This is why 
on cold days the air of the schoolroom irritates and parches. 

Method of determining Humidity. — In this rather long 
and tedious calculation only two conditions have been con- 
sidered. What about all the others ? How can we know the 
degree of saturation at any time ? 

The instrument used by Professor Marvin in his investiga- 
tions, and generally recommended by other writers on this 
subject, is what is usually called a wet and dry bulb hygrom- 
eter. He calls it a "sling psychrometer." Figure 38 is a 
reproduction of this instrument as given in his bulletin, re- 
ferred to above. The description and the method of using 
it are given in his own words : — 

Sling Psychrometer. — "This instrument consists of a pair of ther- 
mometers provided with a handle, as shown in Fig. 38, which permits the 
thermometCx to be wliirled rapidly, the bulbs being thereby strongly 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 



203 



affected by the temperature and moisture in the air. 
The bulb of the lower of the two thermometers is 
covered with thin mushn, which is wet at the time an 
observation is to be made." 

The Wet Bulb. — "It is important that the muslin 
covering for the wet bulb be kept in good condition. 
The evaporation of the water from the musUn always 
leaves in its meshes a small quantity of soKd material, 
which sooner or later somewhat stiffens the mushn so 
that it does not readily take up the water. This will 
be the case if the muslin does not readily become wet 
after being dipped in water. On this account it is 
desirable to use as pure water as possible, and also to 
renew the muslin from time to time. New muslin 
should always be washed to remove sizing, etc., before 
being used. A smaU rectangular piece wide enough to 
go about one and one third times around the bulb, and 
long enough to cover the bulb and that part of the 
stem below the metal back, fs cut out, thoroughly wetted 
in clean water, and neatly fitted around the thermom- 
eter. It is tied first around the bulb at the top, using 
a moderately strong thread. A loop of thread to form 
a knot is next placed arotmd the bottom of the bulb 
just where it begins to round off. As this knot is 
drawn tighter and tighter the thread slips off the rounded 
end of the bulb and neatly stretches the muslin cover- 
ing with it, at the same time securing the latter at the 
bottom." 

To make an Observation. — "The so-called wet bulb 
is thoroughly saturated with water by dipping it into 
a small cup or wide-mouthed bottle. The thermome- 
ters are then whirled rapidly for fifteen or twenty sec- 
onds, stopped, and quickly read, the wet bulb first. This 
reading is kept in mind, the psychrometer immediately 
whirled again, and a second reading taken. This is 
repeated three or four times, or more if necessary, until 
at least two successive readings of the wet bulb are 
found to agree very closely, thereby showing it has 
reached its lowest temperature. A minute or more is 
generally required to secure the correct temperature. 

"When the air temperature is near the freezing point, 
it very often happens that the temperature of the wet 



Fig. 38. — From 
W. B. No. 235, 
U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agricul- 
ture, Weather 
Bureau. (Court- 
esy of Weather 
Bureau.) 



204 School Hygiene 

bulb will fall several degrees below freezing, but the water will still 
remain in the liquid state. No error results from this, provided the 
minimum temperature is reached. If, however, as frequently happens, 
the water suddenly freezes, a large amount of heat is liberated, and the 
temperature of the wet bulb immediately becomes 32°. In such cases 
it is necessary to continue the whirling until the ice-covered bulb has 
reached a minimum temperature." 

Whirling and stopping the Psychrometer. — "It is impossible to 
effectually describe these movements. The arm is held with the forearm 
about horizontal, and the hand well in front. A peculiar swing starts the 
thermometers whirling, and afterward the motion is kept up by only a 
slight but regular action of the wrist, in harmony with the whirling 
thermometers. The rate should be a natural one, so as to be easily 
and regularly maintained. If too fast or irregular, the thermometers 
may be jerked about in a violent and dangerous manner. The stopping 
of the psychrometer, even at the highest rates, can be perfectly accom- 
plished in a single revolution, when one has learned the knack." 

He further cautions the experimenter to so handle the in- 
strument that it will not be influenced by sunshine or the 
presence of the observer's body. To get rid of this latter 
possible source of error, he suggests that the experimenter 
move slowly so as to keep the thermometers in territory not 
affected by the moisture or heat from the body. Having 
performed the experiment and having obtained a satisfactory 
reading of the difference in temperature between the wet and 
dry bulb thermometers, what is the next step ? Here certain 
tables must be supplied from which the percentage of satura- 
tion may be read. In order to make these as brief as possible, 
I have selected those parts of sets of tables that will probably 
cover all conditions arising in the tests made in the school- 
room. 

How to use the Tables. — The first thing to do is to find 
out approximately the stage of the barometer at the time of 
testing. This can generally be found out from the local 
weather reports if no barometer is accessible in the immediate 
locality. If the plenum system of ventilation is used, some 
sHght allowance may be made for higher pressure in the room. 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 205 

But as the difference is likely to be but a very small fraction 
of an inch, for practical purposes this difference may be neg- 
lected. If the barometer registers between 29.6 to 30 inches, 
then use the table marked " Pressure = 30.0 inches." When 
it registers anywhere between 28.6 and 29.5, use the table 
marked " Pressure = 29.0 inches." Suppose, then, we have 
found by the use of the psychrometer that the difference in 
reading between the wet and dry bulb is 10.5 degrees Fahren- 
heit, and the temperature by the dry bulb is 68 degrees 
Fahrenheit, and the barometer 29.8, how can we find the rela- 
tive humidity ? Turning to the table for " Pressure = 30.0 
inches," and to sixty-eight in the air temperature column, by 
following this line through to the last column in that part 
of the table that shows " Depression of the wet-bulb ther- 
mometer (^— /')," we find that the relative humidity per cent 
of the schoolroom is fifty- two. Take another example: 
Suppose we have found that the difference in the readings of 
the wet and dry bulbs in the schoolroom is 17.5 degrees, the 
temperature of the room as shown by the dry-bulb thermom- 
eter is 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the barometer is 29.3, what 
is the relative humidity ? Turning to the lower part of the 
table marked " Pressure = 29.0 inches," we find seventy in the 
air temperature column, and follow this to the right until 
we reach the fourteenth column headed 17.5, and we find 
the relative humidity to be twenty-eight per cent. If it 
should happen that, in certain elevated parts of our country, 
these tables do not meet the requirements of barometric 
pressure, it will only be necessary to get a copy of Dr. 
Marvin's bulletin mentioned above to find extended tables 
for all probable conditions indoors and out. By the use of 
these larger tables it will be possible to determine the 
humidity outside or inside through a large variation of tem- 
peratures and barometric pressure. The bulletin will cost ten 
cents and ought to be in the hands of all who undertake any 
extensive experiments in determining relative humidity. 



2o6 



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Humidity in the Schoolroom 



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208 



School Hygiene 



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Humidity in the Schoolroom 



209 



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2IO 



School Hygiene 



Methods of introducing Moisture into the Air of School- 
rooms. — In trying to control automatically the amount of 
moisture in the room, the Boston Commission used " perfo- 
rated pipes to blow steam directly into the air," which by means 
of a fan was being driven over steam coils into the school- 



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Floor lfb)^r^^^:^}fi^i}i^^B^iM&^0!'-^^^ Line 



Ai/^s\ <;■;■:':; v'5ru-l-v^var-vovv"-^^i^V---q'i^ 



Fig. 39. — End view. A simple device for washing and humidifying the air. (See 
description in the text.) 

rooms. This air, when entering the schoolroom, registered 
67 degrees Fahrenheit. Auxiliary coils were used in the room to 
maintain the required temperature. By the use of a humido- 
stat in the schoolroom set to control the flow of steam into the 
air, and " a recording hygrodeik to record the percentage of 
moisture in the rooms," the commission found that to some 
degree the experiment was successful, but many irregularities 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 



211 



were noticed. They concluded that the apparatus used re- 
quired too much attention. They also speak of two difficulties 
arising from the use of a steam jet as a means of moistening 
the air: — 

I. "So much steam taken from the boiler requires constant 
care to see that the water line does not get down to the danger 
point." 



'^^3y!■!^:^^V^'>^:'^iV^^^i:?^^^y^^"^ 




ti riving 



Fig. 40. — Side view. 

2. " There was complaint of bad odor in the rooms, and this 
was due to the sediment and dirty water in the boilers." 

The next method to which I wish to call attention provides 
for cleansing or filtering the air and also for introducing into 
it additional aqueous vapor. It is a modified form of an ar- 
rangement in use in a large Board school in London. The 
accompanying figures will help to make its construction clear. 
It consists, as will be seen, of a large cylinder constructed of 
a light framework of steel centered on a shaft with gearing 



212 School Hygiene 

attachments at one end. Underneath it is placed a trough 
made of cement Hned with metal, into which the wheel or 
cyhnder will dip as it turns about the fixed shaft. Around 
the framework of the cylinder is bound a very loosely woven 
coarse cloth or mesh. This mesh covers the whole of the 
wheel save the inner end, which is designed to fit as closely as 
possible, without binding, into the opening next to the fan. 
The trough is partly filled with water into which the cylinder 
with its covering of mesh dips as it is slowly turned. There is 
an outflow pipe from the trough, and the supply of water in 
the form of a small spray strikes the mesh near the center of 
the outer end, thus making it sure that the end is kept wet and 
that the water is being constantly freshened and replenished. 
The cyhnder can be geared to the fan or directly to the motor 
used for driving the fan. It ought to run slowly, making one 
revolution in from three to ten seconds, depending on its size. 
It ought not to splash the water or to throw it off by centrifugal 
force. The outflow should be on the opposite end of the trough 
from the supply jet. Through a mistake of the draftsman 
the overflow drain is shown in the cut at the same end as the 
spray. By putting this outflow at the opposite end, the water 
will be constantly purified as well as renewed. The amount 
of water thrown on to the end of the cylinder may be easily 
regulated by a cock in the pipe, and the form of the nozzle 
may be made to throw the water in such a way as not to splash, 
perhaps in the form of a coarse spray that would not only 
keep the end mesh thoroughly wet, but would drive a mist 
into the interior of the cylinder. A word of caution ought to 
be given with reference to the covering of the cylinder. It 
must be, as suggested, a coarse, loosely woven mesh, in order 
not to offer too much friction to the air as it is drawn in by 
the fan ; and yet it ought to be sufficiently close to gather 
up the water and stream it down through the inside as the cyl- 
inder revolves. The one that I saw in use was covered with 
a coarse hempen cloth not unlike the material used for the 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 213 

outer covering of a coffee bag. The meshes were large 
enough to take a small lead pencil. The size of the 
cylinder may easily be regulated to suit the demands. The 
cut was reproduced from one eight feet in diameter and 
eight and one half feet long. This readily permitted the en- 
trance of enough air to supply a twenty-room building. The 
rate at which it is driven can easily be adjusted by the size 
of the pulleys and the gearings. It can be placed in the fresh- 
air duct leading to the fan, will not be in the way, and will 
need very little or no attention if properly made and regulated. 
As the cut indicates, the incoming air always strikes the wet 
covering at an angle, is drawn through the streaming water 
into the fan, and is then driven over the heating surfaces. In 
very cold weather or, for that matter, at any time when the 
amount of moisture in a cubic foot is at the saturation point, 
there, of course, is no evaporation as the air passes through, 
unless the water into which the cylinder dips is kept hot. 
This may be done by heating the water in the supply pipe, 
by a gas jet, or by immersing in the bottom of the trough some 
steam or hot-water pipes. If this water is kept hot, the air 
is warmed and expanded as it enters the covering, and hence a 
greater percentage of moisture will find lodgment in it. If on 
mild days no extra moisture is needed, the heat from the trough 
and supply pipe may be cut off. It seems altogether possible 
that by regulating the size of the wheel, the size of the mesh, 
the rate of the cylinder, and the temperature of the water, 
the required amount of vapor can be thrown into the air with 
a minimum cost, and without the need of expert service or 
waste of time on the part of the caretaker. There would be 
no loss accruing due to the heat required for warming the water 
in the trough, for this would temper the air and reduce by that 
much the amount of heat needed to bring the air to the re- 
quired temperature for the schoolrooms. Of course, in ex- 
tremely cold weather, fresh air entering must be tempered be- 
fore striking the cylinder, or else the water would be frozen. 



214 



School Hygiene 



Tempering coils should be located in the path of the incoming 
current between the cylinder and the outer air. By the use of 
this arrangement not only may the amount of moisture be 
increased, but the particles of floating dust and soot with their 
loads of clinging germs may be filtered and washed out so that 
the air will enter the rooms almost free from dust. I was told 





Fig. 41. — ^4 and B. — Photograph? of leaves showing deposit of soot; half removed. 
From The Air of Towns, by Dr. J. B. Cohen. By the courtesy of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 

by the headmaster and the caretaker of the Board school 
referred to above that on foggy, sooty days, common in London, 
the water in the trough, unless rapidly changed, became al- 
most as black as ink. I examined the rooms carefully and must 
say they were unusually free from dust, soot, or the flotsam and 
jetsam of the outer air. There can be no doubt that when 
properly installed, this method will insure clean air. In fact, 
the air will lose some of its carbon dioxide as well as its dirt as 
it passes through the water, and will therefore enter the school- 
room somewhat fortified against the impurities there poured 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 215 

into it. By tests made at this school during fogs, it was found 
that the air in the rooms was much safer and purer than that 
on the outside. It would be beyond my purpose, in describ- 
ing this apparatus and its use, to make exaggerated claims 
about it ; but I am persuaded that the principles employed, 
its simplicity of construction and operation, together with its 
known and theoretical efficiency, ought to lead those interested 
in furnishing pure and wholesome air to schoolrooms to give 
it a thorough test. It is capable of so much adaptation that 
I feel sure that it will not disappoint. Let me repeat again, 
there can be no doubt about its efficiency as a means of filtering 
the air. For this purpose it is certainly the best device that 
I have seen. It will cost very little to make, and practically 
nothing to operate. 

The Buffalo Forge Company has recently put upon the mar- 
ket an air-washing and humidifying apparatus from the use 
of which they claim excellent results may be obtained. The 
essentials of this systems are a battery of spraying nozzles so 
constructed that the water driven through them by a force 
pump will emerge in a finely divided mist. These are placed in 
due proportion and in proper position across the intake duct for 
fresh air. The spray from the nozzles is driven in the opposite 
direction to the flow of air. The water thrown through these 
nozzles is heated to a temperature at which a complete satura- 
tion will supply a sufficient percentage of humidity to the air 
after it has passed over the heating surf aces and enters the room. 
For example, if the temperature in the humidifying chamber is 
kept at forty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity there 
reaches saturation, there will be enough moisture to establish 
about a fifty per cent saturation in the schoolroom with the tem- 
perature sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. It has been claimed 
by W. A. Rowe, the engineer for the company, that excessive 
condensation on windows can be obviated by maintaining 
a temperature in the spray chamber never higher than a mean 
between the temperature of the external air and that of the 



2i6 School Hygiene 

room. He claims that " this is true because the glass itself 
is at a temperature midway between that of the air outside 
and that of the air in the room, and therefore would be unable 
to lower the temperature of the air to its dew point." ^ 

By a series of somewhat compHcated eliminators this air, 
carrying a saturation of aqueous vapor, is washed and, it is 
claimed, all dust and dirt is taken out. It then passes through 
the fan to the heating surfaces and to the rooms. I have not 
seen this method in operation, and cannot estimate its effi- 
ciency. But it is evidently too complicated and expensive 
for small or medium-sized schools, and would either necessi- 
tate the use of a force pump or a very heavy water pressure 
to break up the water into a mist and to drive it into the 
humidifying chamber. In practice, I have found that nozzles 
such as are used in this method are likely to clog, especially 
if the water supplied is not clean. 

Quite recently the Johnson Service Company has also 
developed a method of humidifying the air, and through a 
humidostat connected with compressed air, of controlling auto- 
matically the percentage of saturation in cold weather. They 
claim for this device a high degree of perfection with simplicity 
of operation. Their system may be briefly described as fol- 
lows. An instrument called the humidostat is placed in the 
room and connected with compressed air in a manner similar 
to that of the thermostat. This instrument registers the 
amount of moisture in the air in the schoolroom, and may be 
set in connection with their humidifier to keep the moisture 
at the point of saturation required. The humidifier, according 
to their plan, is described as follows : " The moisture or humid- 
ifier may be one of several forms. Where steam heating is 
in use, and the steam is clean and odorless and free from oil from 
engines, a perforated pipe or pipes in the air duct is the most 
simple and perfect humidifier. The outlets are properly ad- 
justed, and then the humidostat shuts off and lets on the steam 

1 See Engineering News, Vol. 60, No. 7, p. 171. 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 217 

as required. Sometimes a water spray, particularly of warm 
water, may be used in place of steam. Where neither steam 
jet nor water spray is advisable, an evaporating spray is the 
most perfect arrangement." In the plan above mentioned 
a steam coil immersed in the water is used to keep it at the 
evaporating point, and the humidostat is set to regulate the 
flow of steam through this coil, and thus indirectly to vary 
the amount of moisture thrown into the air as it passes over 
it on its way to the room in question. The amount of water 
in the pan is regulated by a common float and its connecting 
valves. I have not seen this method in use and hence cannot 
speak of its effectiveness. It is plain, however, that it makes 
no provision for filtering the air, and that if steam is used, 
the difficulties that the Boston committee found would present 
themselves. Also special provision would have to be made 
in the air ducts for pans or pipes, for unless this were done, 
much friction would reduce the rate of the air current and so 
hinder the amount of air supply in the schoolroom, which 
would bring more trouble than it would give relief. The prin- 
ciples upon which their humidostat depends for effectiveness 
are not explained in their literature which I have seen. The 
claim is made that, with this method, the moisture may be 
automatically regulated within two per cent of that required. 
If this can be done within reasonable limits of expense and super- 
vision, this system will merit approval. But it will be a safe 
thing for schoolmen with reference to all humidifiers on the 
market to contract for them on conditions definitely stated 
and then to make sure that they are properly tested before ac- 
cepted. The shng psychrometer already described and the 
tables given will furnish the means of testing accurately at 
little or no cost. 

Another and very promising method of washing, humidify- 
ing, and coohng the air where a plenum system is used for 
ventilation is that manufactured by J. Zellweger & Son, St. 
Louis. As will be seen by referring to Fig. 42, water is thrown 



2l8 



School Hygiene 



directly into the fan by a series of line sprays. Here it is 
broken up into a line mist by specially arranged series of wires, 
and this washes the air. 

It is used in several of the best buildings of St. Louis, where 
I had the chance to examine it. 

The advantages claimed for it are its simplicity, its saving 
of space, and its ready adjustment. It will be obvious to any 




Fig. 4J. Zellweger air washiuj,' and cooling fan. 

one, however, that a fan so conditioned will not deliver as much 
air, other things being equal, as one of the same size without 
the impediments thus introduced. Thus a larger fan of this 
type will be required, but it will clean and moisten the air at 
very little expense and, apparently, with very little supervision. 
Humidity and Comfort. — Within certain physiological 
limits we are comfortable in an increasing temperature if at 



Humidity in the Schoolroom 219 

the same time there is a decrease in the amount of moisture. 
For example, a temperature of seventy-eight degrees Fahren- 
heit with thirty-five per cent of saturation is about as comforta- 
ble as sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit with fifty-eight percent 
saturation. Dr. Richards states that the most comfortable air 
condition for indoor workers, as far as temperature and humidity 
are concerned, is that from sixty-four degrees Fahrenheit, with 
a humidity of sixty per cent saturation, to that of sixty-eight 
degrees Fahrenheit, with a humidity measured by forty per 
cent saturation.^ While this estimate seems to be safe and 
fair, it does not attempt to say that this could apply to 
all cases alike. There are so many individual differences 
and idiosyncrasies to deal with that one despairs of giving 
general advice. Besides, the term " indoor workers " must 
be applied to sedentary employment, rather than to active 
indoor workers. It is a fair general estimate, however, to 
apply to schools when the buildings and other conditions 
are normal. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Why are cold, rainy days so chilling? 

2. Why are warm, rainy days so uncomfortable? 

3. Since human life through its long evolution is naturally adapted to 
out-of-door conditions, would it not, therefore, be advisable to keep the 
air in a schoolroom as moist as that out of doors ? 

4. Why are coughs, colds, influenza, and other diseases of the throat 
and respiratory tract more prevalent in winter than in summer ? 

5. Determine whether or not in a cold climate, such as prevails in the 
northern and northwestern part of our country, the saving in fuel would 
amount to the sum required to furnish the proper humidity. 

6. Note how quickly the water evaporates from a saturated cloth in 
the air of a schoolroom on cold days. How is this on warm, moist 
days? 

^ See Conservation by Sanitation, p. 8 (chart), by Ellen H. Richards. John 
Wiley & Sons, 191 1. 



220 School Hygiene 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Carrier, W. H. Air-conditioning Apparatus. Journal Amer. Society 
of Mechanical Engineers, v. ii, PP- 1613-1688, December, 191 1. ' 

Report of Committee on Air Washers. Transactions Amer. Soc. of 
Heating and Ventilating Engineers, 1912, v. 16, pp. 136-143. 

Prudden, T. M. Dust aiid its Dangers. New York, 1 910. 113 pp. 

Tyndall, John. Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air, in its Relation 
to Putrefaction and Infection. New York, 1902. 338 pp., illus. 

Wilson, G. B. Air Conditioning. New York, 1908. 143 pp., illus. 



CHAPTER XV 
EYE DEFECTS AND SCHOOL CONDITIONS 

School Work is often Harmful to Children's Eyes. — 
y There can be no doubt of the fact that there is danger of our 
children injuring their eyes under the pressure of modern 
school demands. In fact, the results of careful examinations 
made in all progressive countries prove conclusively that 
school conditions are responsible for a large part of the near- 
sightedness prevalent among the children of the higher grades. 
It has been determined by many different investigations that 
myopia (nearsightedness) is not often, if ever, inherited, and is 
rarely congenital. It. is known, however, that anatomical 
predispositions toward this difficulty, and perhaps physiologi- 
cal ones, are inherited. That is to say, some children do in- 
herit from their parents conditions that are favorable to the 
development of myopia, and such children need more careful 
attention in school, otherwise they soon suffer as a result 
of the work imposed. ^Myopia usually develops during the 
early years of school age as a result of school requirements or 
other work that makes it necessary for the children to bring 
the objects with which they work too close to their eyes. This 
overburdening is not to be wondered at when we stop to in- 
vestigate the causes. Children are required to use books much 
more freely and continuously now than they were under former 
conditions; school terms are longer, and the curricula are 
fuller. Moreover, the amount of written work demanded of 
pupils is increasing. Under these conditions, unless teachers 
are especially careful, many children are compelled to over- 
burden their eyes, and because of this, permanent visual diffi- 
culties are brought on. 



222 School Hygiene 

In order to understand the necessity of great care on the 
part of teachers, it will be well to pass in review some of the 
facts of the physiology of vision and those defects that develop 
as the result of using the eyes habitually under unfavorable 
conditions. 

Shape of the Eyeball and its Effect on Vision. — A normal 
eye is so shaped that the rays of light, reflected from the object 
of vision properly placed, come to a focus exactly on the retina. 




H E M 

Fig. 43. — H, hypermetropia ; £, emmetropia ; If, myopia. 

Such an eye is called an emmetropic eye, that is, one properly 
formed. But if the eyeball is too short from the front to 
the back, the rays of light entering it will not reach a focus 
by the time they impinge on the retina, and will be spread out 
on it in a sort of diffused way. The result of such a condition 
will, of course, be indistinct and blurred vision. The same 
external point reflecting the light would tend to stimulate the 
retina in a number of adjacent places, instead of at a single 
point. If, for example, a person whose eyes are defective in 
this way were to look at the letter T, he would see something 
like the following instead of a clear and distinct image.^ 
(Fig. 44.) 

This condition of the eye is termed hypermetropia, and an 
eye so shaped is called an hypermetropic eye ; that is, too short 
from the cornea to the retina. It is very common for those 
who speak of defective eyesight in school children to confine 
their discussions almost wholly to myopia and astigmatism. 
True, these are common defects, and without doubt defects 
1 See Roosa's Defective Eyesight, p. 120, Fig. 23. 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 



223 



prolific of disturbances to health and the normal progress of 
the learners, especially of the children of the upper grades. 
But it ought to be remembered that most young children are 
hypermetropic and see clearly neither near nor far objects 
without accommodation. If the eye of the child is permitted 
to develop normally, it will increase in length until its ante- 
rior-posterior diameter exactly corresponds to the refracting 
media and the child can then see the far points of vision clearly 
without any effort of accommodation. In other words, he has 



"1! 











Fig. 44. — From Roosa's Defective Eyesight. 

become an emmetrope, or has normal vision. He sees things 
at a distance clearly and has power to accommodate for near 
vision. But if, during the hypermetropic stage, his eyes have 
been overtaxed, serious difficulties may arise. 

Hypermetropia. — When, therefore, hypermetropia exists 
to a marked degree, that is, when the eyeball is too short for 
the refracting media to bring the rays of light reflected from 
a given point to a focus on the retina, nothing in the field of 
vision can be seen distinctly unless strong and continuous 



2 24 School Hygiene 

effort is made to accommodate the eye, and this continuous 
effort will cause much disturbance. The child suffering in this 
way is more seriously handicapped as regards the effort to 
accommodate than the myopic child, since he must depend 
on accommodation to see either near or far objects clearly, 
for, without this effort, nothing is properly focused on the 
retina ; while the myopic child needs no accommodation for 
near objects and cannot accommodate for distant vision. In 
discussing this point, Fuchs says : — 

"While the hyperme trope needs accommodation even for distant vision, 
this is much more the case for seeing near by. Let us assume that work 
has to be done at a distance of thirty-three centimeters. For this 
purpose the emmetrope must use an accommodation of 3 D. A hyper- 
metrope with hypermetropia = 2 D also uses the same amount of accom- 
modation ; but he must employ 2 D more to conceal (overcome) his 
hypermetropia, so that altogether he must make an accommodative 
effort of 5 D. Now as his range of accommodation is no greater than that 
of an emmetrope, this great amount of accommodation causes him more 
trouble in proportion. He may be said to be always dragging about with 
him a deficit in his accommodation, a deficit which causes him to become 
exhausted quickly when doing near work. At first, vision near by is 
distinct and the work goes on well ; but after a little while, the object, 
print, near work, and so forth, begin to grow indistinct and are blurred 
as though enveloped in a slight haze. This is owing to the fact that 
the overstrained accommodation gives way, and the eye then ceases to 
be properly focused. A short period of rest, during which the eyes look 
at distant objects or are kept closed, enables them to continue the work. 
But the same obscuration soon sets in again and compels another pause. 
These periods of enforced rest are the more frequently repeated and are 
of greater duration the longer the work is kept up. With them are 
associated pains in the eyes, and more especially pains in the forehead 
and headaches." ' 

Furthermore, it will be seen that a child may be able to con- 
ceal for a time a high degree of farsightedness simply by his 
power to accommodate, so that even a test card will not re- 
veal it ; for by dint of effort he can focus on the letters so as to 
see them clearly. For this very reason the condition of many 

' See Fuchs' Textbook of Ophtholmology, p. 645. 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 225 

children in school is misunderstood. They see clearly, but 
have to make a serious sacrifice in eyestrain to see clearly and 
to do the amount of near work required of them, and in time 
they will inevitably have to pay the penalty. 

Myopia. — When, however, for various reasons, the eye- 
ball becomes elongated so that the focal distance is too great, 
and the various rays of light entering the eye from any given 
point are focused before they reach the retina, we have a 
condition of myopia, or what is commonly called nearsighted- 
ness. It is evident that here, as in the former condition, it is 
impossible for such an eye to furnish to the brain a clearly 
marked and well-defined stimulus, coming from a distant ob- 
ject, from which satisfactory sense perception may result. 
For the rays would cross and spread out more or less on the 
retina, rendering the image imperfect and hazy in its defini- 
tion. This inability to see distant objects clearly is a constant 
and persistent cause of fatigue, which tends to exaggerate 
the difl&culty, as we shall see more clearly farther on. 

"This defect," says Howell, "may be due to an abnormally great 
curvature of the refractive surfaces, the cornea or the lens, or to an ab- 
normal length of the eyeball in its anterior-posterior diameter. The last 
cause is the most common. The defect may be congenital, but usually 
it is acquired, and in the latter case its cause is generally attributed to a 
weakness in the coats of the eyeball. The interior of the eye is under some 
pressure, intraocular tension, which is estimated to be equal to the 
pressure of a column of mercury 25 to 30 mm. in height. This tension 
is increased by strong convergence of the eyeballs in looking at near 
objects. If the coats of the eye are weak or become so from disease or 
malnutrition, they may yield somewhat to this pressure and the eyeball 
become lengthened in the anterior-posterior diameter. . . . Much of 
the prevalent myopia in the young is attributed by oculists to bad 
methods of reading, such as insufficient lighting, small print, and faulty 
position of the book. Such conditions lead to an excessive muscular 
effort and thus aggravate any tendency that exists toward the develop- 
ment of a nearsighted condition."^ 

^ See Howell's Textbook of Physiology, pp. 295 f . 



2 26 School Hygiene 

Mental Effect of Myopia. — At this point let us stop to 
consider what it really means for a child to acquire a high 
degree of myopia. Unless corrected by glasses, his horizon 
is limited and he sees nothing clearly unless it is within his 
immediate reach. The trees are mere blurs, and the leaves 
have no definite form. The fields fade into shadowy ghosts of 
their own inviting reality, and the hills are lost in a sort of 
mental fog. Indeed, the whole world of clearly visible things 
must be constructed out of small pieces of experience coming 
within the narrow circle of what he may focus on a retina ad- 
justed to a distance within reach of his faulty vision. He 
cannot stand on the hilltop and, with a swift glance, bring 
the valleys and rivers clearly and distinctly before his mind's 
eye. There is none of that largeness and distinctness of im- 
agery that make for expansion of soul and clearness of expres- 
sion. I shall never forget the raptures of delight evoked by 
the first real vision of trees and birds, when a Uttle girl whose 
eyes were out of focus was fitted with glasses. " Are these 
trees? " she exclaimed. " And are those beautiful things the 
leaves? Can the birds rest on those tiny branches away up 
in the top ? Oh ! how beautiful the world is ! I never saw 
it before to-day." This is a true story and is only one of many 
that every observant student of child life could recount. 
Myopia is a physical defect that often produces " mental near- 
sightedness " and to a greater or less degree mental starvation. 
There is a tendency for the person so afHicted to resort to in- 
trospection, to rely on distortions of the real world outside, 
and hence to dwell on abstractions or fancies out of harmony 
with the objective world. Such a tendency, begun too soon, 
will warp the emotional life and usually results in curbing 
normal emotional development. 

Those children who are afflicted with a high degree of myopia 
and are not properly fitted with glasses are inclined to sedentary 
Hfe, for the whole world, except a few feet from them, is hazy 
and uninviting. They cannot play ball with any degree of 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 227 

accuracy, for the ball is indistinct until almost within their 
reach. They cannot cooperate in any large and effective way 
with their fellows on the playground, because they cannot 
understand signals easily. They cannot see opportunities 
for the fine points in the game, and consequently are left out 
as incapables. They cannot play tennis or hocky with 
certainty without glasses, and with them they are endan- 
gered through flying balls, sticks, or stones. Unless their 
vision is corrected by glasses, everything tends to drive them 
to books or pictures, or at least limits the expenditure of their 
energy in both play and work to things or conditions near at 
hand. This condition, to a marked degree, is a real inversion 
of child life, for children are first in need of exploring fields and 
woods, becoming acquainted with a larger and larger environ- 
ment. It is only in later years that they need to examine, in 
detail, the recorded experience of others. By the time chil- 
dren reach six years of age they have gained some power over 
their muscles and are filled with the desire to use them. They 
Hke to run about and dehght in those games that make de- 
mands on muscle rather than on eye and ear. 

Civilization and Myopia. — Shortsightedness is a defect 
mainly developed by the demands of the sort of civihzed life 
that we are leading. Kotelmann says myopia is never found 
among savage tribes, and cites the results of his own investi- 
gations in proof of this statement. Whether this sweeping 
conclusion is wholly true or only partially true, there have 
been so many investigations made in recent years touching 
visual defects in school children that we now know beyond 
the shadow of a doubt that myopia becomes a much more 
common defect with children as the length of their time 
spent in school increases. Furthermore, not only does the 
number of children so affiicted progressively increase in the 
upper grades, but when the vision is uncorrected by glasses, 
the eyeball often becomes elongated and tends to further diver- 
gence from its normal form by reason of the added strain and 



2 28 School Hygiene 

congestion brought on by school work when performed under 
such conditions. Hence there is a progressive increase in 
such defects. These investigations have also shown that in 
Germany, where the German type is used, myopia is possibly 
more frequent, other things being equal, than in those countries 
that use the Latin letters ; for it is claimed that the former 
are less easily distinguished, demand closer observation, and 
consequently produce more eyestrain. 

Results of Tests of School Children. — From tests to deter- 
mine the acuity of vision made on four thousand seven hundred 
and sixty-five pupils in the elementary and high schools of 
Chicago, in 1900, Mr. Smedley, the Director for Child Study, 
found that " thirty-five per cent of all the pupils tested were 
defective ; thirty-seven per cent of the girls and thirty-two 
per cent of the boys. Thirty-two per cent of the six-year-old 
pupils were found subnormal in vision. For the first three 
years of school fife the percentage of those defective rapidly 
increases, suggesting that the school work of that period is 
hard on the eyes of the pupils. After the age of nine years 
is passed, the percentage of pupils having eye defects decreases ; 
at first slowly, then more rapidly until the age of thirteen is 
past." Dr. Smedley suggests that the decrease in the per- 
centage of defectives between the ages of nine and thirteen 
could be accounted for on the basis of the improved health 
incident to this period of rapid growth. While this statement 
is reasonable and partly justifiable, it seems to me that it 
is probable that one reason for this decrease can be found 
in the fact that a larger percentage of defective children 
drop out before this period is reached than those who were 
found with normal acuity of vision. It is very likely, too, 
that many of those who showed defects in acuity at six years 
of age were hypermetropic and later through their attempts 
to adjust their eyes prematurely to book work, would pass 
through the emmetropic condition and later pass on into a 
permanent stage of myopia. 



'Eye Dejects and School Conditions 



229 



Besides, it will be seen from a study of the figures given in 
his table that in general the seriousness of the defects increases 
with the age of the children. His table follows : — 



School Life and Sight 



Age 


Number 


20/30 AND 


20/40 AND 


20/so AND 


20/70 AND 


20/200 AND 


Tested 


Below 


Below 


Below 


Below 


Below 


6 . . . . 


264 


32 


7 


4 


I 





7 










363 


35 


8 


4 


2 


I 


8 










3SI 


38 


13 


9 


3 


I 


9 










343 


44 


17 


II 


6 


X 


10 










364 


43 


18 


13 


9 


2 


II 










385 


41 


17 


13 


8 


2 


12 










364 


36 


16 


14 


9 


2 


13 










373 


30 


14 


13 


9 


2 


14 










450 


32 


14 


13 


9 


3 


15 










521 


32 


15 


13 


9 


3 


lb 










475 


32 


16 


13 


II 


4 


17 










399 


32 


16 


14 


12 


4 


18 










173 


32 


16 


13 


10 


8 



Since the examinations upon which these figures are based were made, hun- 
dreds of other tests have been made, and they all show in general the same re- 
sults. 

The following table gives the summaries of the results of 
examinations made on Japanese schoolboys attending special 
and higher institutions during the years indicated. It is 
taken from the Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Minister of 
State for Education, pubHshed in English at Tokyo, 19 10. 

It is a matter of common observation that those who are 
afflicted with myopia can see things clearly near by, and to 
a certain degree have an advantage over those with normal 
vision, for they need no accommodation, and hence are relieved 
from some of the effort that normal eyes must make to focus 
near-by objects. 

" The troubles that myopes complain of," says Fuchs, " vary 
according to the degree of myopia. In the lower grades of 
myopia distant vision is indistinct, and yet often suffices for 



230 



School Hygiene 





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Ph f^ 




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H H 




O ^ 




H M 




1^ ^ 




g w 








W w 




S w 




s ^ 




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X o 




w 




I-) 


Q 


ri§ 


W 




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^ ^ 


w 


O H 


< 


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CO CO CO CO CO CO CO 


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j^no lo T^ CO p) m 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

NO >J0 -^t CO cq M O 

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o* o^ o^ o^ o^ o^ o^ 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 231 

ordinary purposes, so that many myopes of this sort do not 
use glasses. For near work, moderately nearsighted eyes are 
generally regarded as serviceable, because they do their work 
with less accommodation, and, either become presbyopic late 
or do not become so at all." 

Eye Fatigue and Myopia. — " It is otherwise with the high 
degrees of myopia. In this case, not only is the complaint made 
of indistinct vision at a distance, but also of inability to keep 
on with work near by for any length of time ; for owing to 
the short distance at which the far point lies, a considerable 
effort of convergence is required — an effort that, moreover, 
is often rendered difficult by insufficiency of the internal ocular 
muscles — so that troubles symptomatic of muscular asthe- 
nopia develop. From this insufficiency may develop a stra- 
bismus divergens, a condition most frequently met with as a 
result of marked myopia. In myopia of high degree, it is 
often the case that satisfactory distant vision is not attained 
even by glasses because morbid changes exist in the fundus. 
For the same reason, vision close by is frequently defective 
in spite of the close proximity of the object. Moreover, 
complaint is made of rapid exhaustion of the eyes, of great 
sensitiveness to light, and of musccB volitantes (floating specks 
in the eye)." ^ 

Astigmatism. — There is another set of eye defects that 
must be mentioned here, for though they are not, as a rule, the 
results of unhygienic school work, they are proHfic of much 
trouble in connection with school work. We refer to the 
various forms of astigmatism. While in a very definite sense 
all such defects might be classed as variations in the length of 
the eyeball, just as Dr. Roosa^ so classifies them; yet in 
order to make the facts clear and simple, it is best to differen- 
tiate them and to speak of them separately. 

It is plain that, in order to focus rays of light entering the 

^ See Fuchs' Textbook of Ophtholmology, pp. 630 f. 
2 See Defective Eyesight, Roosa, p. 19. 



232 School Hygiene 

eye, the cornea must be of such a shape as properly and regu- 
larly to refract these rays as they pass through it. If, however 
as it often happens, the curvature of the cornea in one meridian 
of the eye is not the same as that in another meridian, the 
rays of light radiating from a point and falling upon these 
different meridians will not be focused at the same place on the 
retina. This will, of course, lead to the formation of imperfect 
and hazy images. For, though the eye may be properly ad- 
justed to get a clear impression from one set of rays, it will 
be out of focus for others. 

If a child whose eyes are markedly defective in this way be 
sent to school, and be required to use his eyes without proper 
glasses, under unfavorable conditions, or, for that matter, when 
he uses them much under the most favorable conditions, he 
will constantly suffer from eyestrain due to his persistent 
attempts to adjust them so as to see more clearly and rid him- 
self of disturbing secondary images. Thus it happens that 
various forms of astigmatism, congenital and acquired, not 
only become serious hindrances to distinct vision, but also 
fruitful causes of eyestrain. 

Astigmatism is by far the most common visual defect. 
Dr. Pardee ^ has found that of ten thousand eyes examined 
in his office, 83.5 per cent of the left and 84.8 per cent of the 
right were astigmatic. In commenting on these results, he 
says : " A fraction over 70 per cent of all the examinations were 
made on account of headaches being complained of by the 
persons examined and 41 per cent of the examinations were 
made on school children or persons attending higher institu- 
tions of learning." 

Eyes of Country and City Children. — According to a chart 
reproduced by Dr. Crowley,- it has been shown by Dr. J. P. 

1 See Discussion of Ten Thousand Eyes examined for Refractive Errors, in 
Proceedings of Medical Society of California, Vol. 29, 1899, pp. 98 ff., by Dr. 
George C. Pardee, A.M., M.D. 

^ See The Hygiene of School Life, p. 32. 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 233 

Williams-Freeman that city children, as compared with country 
children, show a marked deterioration of vision, both in the 
case of those who entered school with normal vision, and those 
who were defective at the beginning of their school work. 
Doubtless there is truth in the statement that country children 
are better conditioned for seeing things at a distance and profit 
accordingly ; but it seems Hkely that the greater freedom in the 
open air, better nourishment, and more wholesome exercise 
all enter as contributing causes. It cannot be successfully 
denied, however, that the eyes of children, while capable of 
great accommodative power, are not as easily adjusted for 
near vision as for objects at a distance, and since the horizon 
of many city children is extremely hmited, things near at hand 
have an undue opportunity to influence the eyes accordingly. 
The figures referred to make it appear that 64.5 per cent of 
those examined and found possessed of normal vision were 
country children, while of those whose capability in both eyes 
amounted to only two thirds of normal vision 68.5 per cent 
were from the city.^ 

School Conditions Required. — Turning our attention upon 
school conditions, we can readily see, from what has been said 
above, that some of the more important hygienic demands 
touching these things are often neglected. There are certain 
precautions that ought to be taken in every schoolroom and for 
every child in the schoolroom in order to prevent the develop- 
ment of such difficulties, or, if defects already exist, to minimize 
the evil consequences incident to the demands of ordinary 
school work. Among these are the following : — 

Proper Light. — There must be the necessary amount and 
theproper kind of light in the schoolroom. If this demand be 
disregarded, the eyes of the children will suffer, for lack of 
light will, of necessity, compel the child to bring the objects 
that he has been directed to observe closer to his eyes, in order 

1 Author has not seen the original paper by Dr. J. P. Williams-Freeman, and 
no mention was made by Dr. Crowley of the number of children examined. 



234 School Hygiene 

to see them with sufficient clearness ; and if this forced accom- 
modation is continued too long, fatigue, eyestrain, and, finally, 
myopia will result. 

Good Type for School Books. — The child must be furnished 
with books properly printed on good paper. The type ought 
to be plain and much larger for young children than that which 
can be used properly in books for adults. The reason for this 
is sometimes not clearly understood, though the facts are 
recognized. Children's eyes are not so sensitive as those of 
adults. Or perhaps it would be better to say that children 
are unable to discriminate in things visible, as well as adults 
do. In order to see words with equal clearness and with the 
minimum amount of effort necessary to recognize them readily, 
the words for the child must be printed with larger type, and 
separated by greater spaces. It is surprising how Uttle these 
facts are practically considered by publishers of children's 
books, though there seems to be, at the present time, a tendency, 
in some quarters at least, to do better in this regard. The 
author took occasion recently to examine somewhat critically 
a large stock of children's Christmas books with especial 
reference to the kind of type used and to the arrangement 
and spacing of the words and hnes. The result was that not 
one in a hundred was found properly printed for children to 
read with ease. Many of them used type of fantastic patterns 
which would sorely tax the eyes of adults to read. Others used 
type far too small, and crowded the words together into such 
irregular or crooked Hnes that much effort was, at times, needed 
to follow them. In nearly all, there was a noticeable attempt 
at ornamentation of the page by the use of the type, and 
legibiHty seemed, at times, to be of secondary importance. 

But the most trouble does not arise from the use of these 
books, though it would not be easy to overestimate the evil 
results that they produce. The chief danger comes from the 
daily use of school textbooks that have been printed with type 
two or three sizes too small, and much worn from long use. 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 235 

In many instances it is impossible for the teachers to prevent 
this, because they are required to use the books adopted by 
those in authority. In all cases, however, teachers can make 
known to the authorities the dangers arising from the use of 
books improperly printed, and this will invariably help to 
guard the health of the children from such unnecessary and 
unhygienic demands. As soon as teachers are aHve to the 
necessity of care in these things, and are able to give rational 
reasons why some are good and others bad, then school authori- 
ties will listen and heed their warnings. It is a pertinent 
question here, then, to ask. What is the proper type to use 
in books for school children? The following paragraphs 
quoted from Dr. Young's famous Report to the Maine 
State Board of Health^ will explain themselves, and at the same 
time furnish teachers a ready means of testing the size of type 
suitable for children's books : — 

Books printed from tj^De smaller than "long primer" should never 
be put into the hands of pupils of any grade, and those for young children 
should be printed from "pica" or "great primer." Full-faced Roman 
type is much more suitable than the "light-faced" type now so much 
in favor. 

The distance of the letters from each other should not be too slight, 
and the different words in the same line should stand far enough apart 
to enable the eye rapidly and easily to take in the picture of each. The 
distance of line from line should not be less than 2.5 millimeters, disre- 
garding the longer letters, and Cohn prefers 3 millimeters (| inch). 
When lines are of too great length, the eye has a difficulty in running back 
to the beginning of the next line. Some authorities state that the length 
of line should not exceed 100 millimeters (3I inches, the same as that of 
this page) ; others, as appears to me more wisely for schoolbooks, place 
the Umit at 80 or 90 millimeters (3I or 2,h inches). 

Pearl, as the printerB call it, is unfit for any eyes, yet tlie piles of Biblee and Testanaents annually 
printed in it tempt many eyes to self-destruction. 

Agate is the type in which a boy, to the writer's knowledge, undertook to read the Bible 
through. His outraged eyes broke down with asthenopia before he went far and could be used 
but little for school work the next two years. 

^ See the Seventh Annual Report to the State Board of Health of Maine by 
the Secretary, Dr. A. G. Young, p. 193. 



236 School Hygiene 

Nonpareil is used in some papers and magazines for children, but, to spare the eyes, all 
such should, and do, go on the list of forbidden reading matter in those homes where the 
danger of such print is understood. 

Minion is read by the healthy, normal young eye without appreciable diffi- 
culty, but even to the sound eye, the danger of strain is so great that all books 
and magazines for children printed from it should be banished from the home 
and school. 

Brevier is much used in newspapers, but is too small for magazines or 
books for young folks. 

Bourgeois is much used in magazines, but should be used in only 
those school books to which a brief reference is made. 

Long Primer is suitable for school readers for the higher and 
intermediate grades, and for textbooks generally. 

Small Pica is still a more luxurious type, used in the 
North American Review and the Forum. 

Pica is a good type for books for small children. 

Great Peimer should be used for 
the first reading book. 

If teachers would refuse to use books improperly printed or at 
least enter vigorous protests against their use, it would not be 
long until publishing companies would make their books in 
accordance with the laws of hygiene. While it is the use of 
improper type that we most frequently condemn in school 
books, yet occasionally we find some books in which the paper 
used is of such poor quality as to make the page look blurred 
and indistinct. This is a culpable mistake and the children 
suffer as a result. The paper ought to be of good quality and 
of a dull finish, so as to avoid all dazzhng effects in reflection 
and to prevent the letters on one page from showing through on 
the other. All careful observers have noticed how often pub- 
lishers, in order to reduce the initial cost of their books, have 



Eye Defects an^.. School Conditions 237 

had recourse to a cheap, unsatisfactory quality of paper, and 
have thereby imposed serious burdens upon their readers. 
But, thanks to the growing enhghtenment of the teaching pro- 
fession, and to a higher appreciation of child Hfe, some of our 
textbooks are coming to be models of carefulness in this 
respect. 

Writing and Vision. — Young children should not be over- 
burdened in the matter of written work and should be taught 
to write a large, round, vertical hand, or at least approximately 
vertical. It seems that in recent years the amount of written 
work demanded of school children has been on the increase. 
This is perhaps due chiefly to the fact that in order to do the 
work assigned her and prepare the children for examinations 
and promotions, the teacher, who is expected to handle from 
forty to fifty children, not having time during school hours to 
hear all recite orally, sets many tasks in written work so that 
she may look over the papers later. Sometimes it goes even 
farther than this : children are tben set to writing to keep them 
busy. Formerly it was a favorite mode of punishment with 
many teachers arbitrarily to command an offender to do 
" copy " work. This barbarism is now seldom perpetrated, 
thanks to Spencer's chapter on " Moral Education " and 
other vigorous protests against irrational punishment. Much 
writing is harmful to children, because very few of them sit 
erect while writing. Nearly all of them are inclined to bend 
over the desk and bring their eyes too close to the paper. 
This tendency is much aggravated by the fact that nearly all 
school desks are very much too flat, and in addition are badly 
placed. 

Too Much Reading required in " Home Work." — Be- 
cause of the extra demands made on the children by reason of 
the recent expansions of the curricula, teachers are requiring of 
them more and more home work. This work, too, is most 
often, of necessity, done in the evenings and very frequently 
under unfavorable conditions. It is the unusual home in 



238 School Hygiene 

which lights, chairs, and tables are properly arranged for the 
use of children at study. If children are given regular tasks 
to perform outside of school hours, the teachers should know 
what difficulties are to be surmounted, and what opportunities 
are afforded for doing the work assigned. Otherwise there is 
danger of imposing upon the children. 

It is not easy to overwork the eyes of healthy normal 
children when proper light is afforded and the objects which 
they are asked to observe are sufficiently large to make a 
clear distinct image on the retina without undue effort to ac- 
commodate. But all teachers who have taken any pains to 
find out the conditions under which the work assigned to be 
done at home is usually done know that it is unsafe to the 
health of the children to demand much regular eye work in 
the evening from those even in the higher grades of common 
schools. 

The best artificial light is not to be compared with daylight 
as a satisfactory medium in which to work. But the fact 
which should be ever present in the mind of the exacting 
teacher is that the fights of the average home are far from being 
the best. Besides, it is often true that such lengthening of 
the school day may be one of the causes of the lack of spon- 
taneity noticeable during school hours. This topic, or phase 
of the subject, will be spoken of more at length under the sub- 
ject of fatigue. 

A Tendency to demand the Use of Small Things. — The 
nature work, which is properly finding a large place in the 
curriculum, should deal with material with which children can 
work most satisfactorily. Their attention should be called 
first to the larger phases of their environment, not only be- 
cause these will be more readily and more easily observed, 
but also because these primal facts will have a lasting influence 
on the further development and thought life of the individual. 
To limit children, then, to the study of small things which can 
be brought into the schoolroom, not only harms their eyes, 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 239 

but also prevents them from attaining those wider views of 
nature that are so important as formative agents in the growth 
of human character. 

There seems to be a tendency among teachers for the lower 
grades to select for observation and study those things that are 
Kkely to tax the eyes of the children unduly. This is unfortu- 
nate, as we have indicated, both from the point of view of the 
purpose of the work as well as the proper hygienic care of the 
children. Such things are selected in the main, not because 
teachers are predisposed toward them, but simply because they 
can be brought into the schoolroom. It is possible, too, that 
teachers unintentionally emphasize the importance of the less 
obvious, because these appear to them to offer better means of 
testing the observing power of the children. Be that as it 
may, we know that it is better for them to study the larger and 
more obvious facts of nature than the minute and microscopic. 
I have been struck with the fact that most college students 
who take courses in botany give a large part of their time in 
such study to microscopic work. They know much about the 
invisible world, but most of them do not know an elm tree 
from a beech, or a white oak from a Hnden. They have little 
knowledge of the character of the trees, and less about their 
relations to physiography, climate, and agriculture. Like- 
wise those who study zoology frequently begin with the mi- 
croscope and never get out into the larger world of animal life. 
They learn much about cells, protoplasm, etc., but many of 
them cannot distinguish a toad from a frog, a gar pike from a 
bass, or a jay bird from a robin. I have no desire to find fault 
with the method of teaching biology in colleges, but somewhere 
in the preparation of our teachers they should be brought into 
a vital and intimate knowledge of the larger world, else they 
will inevitably attempt to satisfy the children with material 
out of their reach and beyond their physical and mental powers 
to acquire. Nature study will not only fail of its purpose, 
but will harm the eyesight of the children if the minute and 



240 School Hygiene 

less obvious things are presented instead of the larger, and, to 
them, the more important phases of life. 

Weak Vision and Lack of Vitality. — Trouble with the eyes 
may arise not as a result of malformation of the organs them- 
selves, but as a result of overexercise when the nervous sys- 
tem is suffering from lack of vitality and general neurasthenia. 
Several students who have worked with me of late years 
were suffering from this trouble. They visited many oculists 
to no avail, because ocuhsts cannot reinvigorate their systems. 
They needed rest and nourishment in order to regain their 
usual vigor. Dr. Overend has called this condition ocular 
neurasthenia. He says : " I wish to emphasize the fact that 
the normal eye, under the exactions of modern life, is being 
heavily worked — very frequently overworked. As to this, 
the experience of every oculist will testify, for there is a well- 
recognized class of asthenopic emmetropes. In addition to 
this, there is a large and, perhaps, increasing class of emme- 
tropes who are asthenopic by reason of general neurasthenic 
condition. These are asthenopic because they are neuras- 
thenic. With them the eye is the organ that gives local ex- 
pression to the general fault." 

Effect of Sudden Contrasts. — The muscles of the iris are 
automatic in their movements, but rather slow. Sudden con- 
trasts of strong light and weak illumination are painful and 
likewise harmful to the retina. For example, if the eye, ad- 
justed to a dim Ught, is suddenly turned toward a brilliantly 
lighted object, the retina will receive too much Hght, and will 
be shocked before the muscles controlhng the iris can react to 
shut out the superabundance of light. If contrasts are not 
strong, but frequently made, that is, if the eye is called upon to 
function where frequent adjustments in this way are necessary, 
the muscles controlhng the iris become fatigued, respond more 
slowly and less perfectly. As a result, eyestrain in the ciliary 
muscles is produced and the retina is overstimulated. This 
is one cause of headaches and tired eyes. It is only neces- 



Rye Dejects and School Conditions 241 

sary to call attention to the painful results of a flicker- 
ing light to bring this to the attention of all who do much 
work with their eyes under conditions of irregular illumi- 
nation. 

The Eye naturally adjusted for Distant Vision. — Through- 
out the Hfe history of mankind the ability to see things clearly 
at some distance has played a large part in his ability to ad- 
just himself to his environment, and hence his eyes have natu- 
rally developed to meet this demand. With Uttle or no effort 
at accommodation normal full-grown eyes are ready to focus 
distant objects on the retina ; but for those objects very close 
to us, especially if they are small, we are compelled to adjust 
and to hold in control certain fine muscles of the eyes in order 
to bring the rays of light reflected from the objects to a proper 
focus on the retina. The smaller these objects, and especially 
when near to us, the greater is the effort needed to render 
the image distinct. It is well to remember, then, that reading 
many books and expressing ourselves by much writing are 
comparatively new things in the development of human Hfe, 
and when we impose these upon children, we are subjecting 
them, in a way, to a new order of things. Under the best 
conditions obtainable we are thus putting a great burden upon 
the organs of vision and through them upon the nervous 
mechanism of the brain. But if this be true under the best 
conditions of Hght and posture, how much greater the burden 
becomes under unfavorable conditions, we may know by refer- 
ence to the increasing abnormahties of vision developing 
year by year in our schools. From all parts of the civilized 
world evidence is at hand that the eyesight of school children 
is increasingly defective, and that the danger does not stop 
with mere inconvenience of vision or inadequate sense percep- 
tion, but that these defects react upon their general health, 
producing nervous headaches, derangements of the nervous 
system, and the ills incident thereto. In his discussion of this 
point of view Professor Scott says : — 



242 School Hygiene 

"The human eye which was evolved for distant vision (beyond about 
four feet) is being forced to perform a new part, one for which it was 
not evolved, and for which it is poorly adapted. . . . All things seem 
to be conspiring to make us use our eyes more and more for the very 
things for which they are the most poorly adapted. It requires no 
prophet to foresee that such a perversion in the use of an organ wUl surely 
result in a great sacrifice of energy, if not of health and of general 
efficiency." ^ 

We must remember, however, that very yoimg children have 
the power to accommodate for near objects and can apparently 
see them clearly even though very small. Children under a 
year of age are often able to see a small object, even a speck on 
a table, and at times they seem to take delight in exploring 
such objects with the finger tip. The trouble Hes in the strain 
of long-continued endeavor, and especially if the illumination is 
poor or the objects to be observed demand close attention in 
order to identify them. The day of books and writing has 
come to stay, and we must learn to use them effectively with the 
least effort, and so adapt our school and home conditions to the 
limitations of our physical powers and the demands of health. 

Is Civilization harming Human Vision ? — Those who 
would frighten us into believing that the demands of 
modern conditions are bringing about serious degeneration 
of human vision have, in no sense, any rational basis for 
their conclusions. They unhesitatingly tell us that the sav- 
ages had perfect vision, and could, with their " eagle eyes," 
see far better than we. This doctrine is more mythical than 
real. There is no sound scientific data from which to draw 
such conclusions. In fact, it seems to me that on broad lines, 
all evidence points to increasing natural power and efiEi- 
ciency. It is not at all likely that our children are born with 
more defective eyes than are the children of savages, and we 
know that far fewer infants born into civilized Ufe lose their 

1 The Sacrifice of School Children, by Professor Walter D. Scott, Popular 
Scientific Monthly, vol. 71, p. 304. 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 243 

sight through lack of proper care in early infancy than is the 
case with those born under uncivilized conditions. But this 
is the thing for us to consider carefully, savage children had 
no books, and they did not spend a greater part of their day in 
schoolrooms, reading and writing. They were not compelled 
to sit at flat desks over which they must bend, in order to bring 
their eyes into proper relation to their work. Neither was 
their work, whatever its kind, so continuously exacting. 
Hence whatever defects existed offered less trouble. 

We must not get a notion that because more glasses are worn 
in our generation our vision is degenerating. It may be that 
this is simply evidence of greater carefulness. But we cannot 
deny the fact that some of our children, indeed many of them, 
would have far better vision and better health if they were not 
subjected to the eyestrain of present-day school demands. 
These demands are not necessary. In the main they re- 
sult from lack of knowledge and willingness to adjust our 
work accordingly. 

Testing the Vision of School Children. — Wherever the 
sanitary conditions of school buildings and school children are 
under medical supervision, the physician in charge ought to be, 
and generally is, held responsible for all tests of vision and hear- 
ing and those that have for their purpose the diagnosis of the 
general physical condition of the children. But it will be a 
long time before the country school will be brought under 
adequate medical supervision, and until that time comes the 
teacher must know how to test the children, especially for 
defective vision. All that she needs to know and apply is a 
reliable and simple method by which she may determine 
whether any defect exists, and in a general way how serious 
this defect is. The teacher who has not had careful training 
as an ocuUst ought not to diagnose the cause of any defective 
vision found ; but she ought to be able to determine whether a 
child has normal or subnormal vision. By the use of the 
Snellen test card it is generally easy to do this. And when a 



244 School Hygiene 

child is found whose vision is so far subnormal as to make it 
clear that the child is not only working at a great disadvantage, 
but probably adding to the difficulty by continued eyestrain, 
then it may readily and truthfully be said the child does not 
see well, and its eyes ought to be examined by a competent 
oculist, so that, if needed, glasses may be prescribed, or its 
general health may be looked after. 

Use of the Snellen Test Card. — County superintendents 
should see that every country school is supplied with one 
of these test cards, and that the teachers are trained to use 
them judiciously. They are inexpensive, costing but a few 
cents, and when carefully used, may save many children much 
suffering. Their use directs the attention of the teacher to 
the need of better care for those who are defective as well as for 
those whose eyes have not yet yielded to the unnatural de- 
mands of school life. 

The Snellen test card is the standard for testing the acuity 
of the vision of all persons who know the letters of the alphabet, 
and each card shows how far the letters ought to be seen by the 
child, when the illumination is equal to that of good dayhght 
well dispersed. No further direction need be given here save 
to say that the eyes should be tested one at a time and the 
percentage of acuity for each noted. 

Test for Astigmatism. — Some of these test 'cards have, in 
addition to the Snellen letters, various figures or letters printed 
in such a manner as to furnish tests for astigmatism. 

It has been pointed out previously that astigmatism is the 
most common defect and, in aggravated cases, is the source of 
a great deal of difficulty. The ordinary teacher, after some 
practice, can use such tests to advantage, but much depends 
on the handling of the children to prevent suggestion. In no 
case, however, ought a teacher undertake to do more than to 
find out whether or not real difficulties exist, and then she can 
advise parents and pupils alike as to the need of professional 
care. By cooperative efforts the teachers in the country and 



Eye Dejects and School Conditions 245 

the oculists of the neighboring towns may do much to bring 
relief to those who are ignorant of their visual defects and the 
handicaps that these bring. Many people have gone through 
life never knowing the world outside clearly and distinctly. 
Many myopic people develop a sort of " myopic character," 
because the world of clearest vision is Hmited to a small area in 
their own personal environment. 

Cases of Superacute Vision. — There are some cases of 
superacute vision which need attention even though the 
Snellen card would not indicate any defect. Temporarily 
supersensitive retinae may indicate an overwrought condition. 
Such eyes readily fatigue, cause headaches and increased 
nervous exhaustion. These cases must not be confused with 
those where the eyes are naturally acute for distant objects. 
As noted before, local environments may account for differ- 
ences in visual acuity. Cohn called attention to the fact that 
children brought up in mountain regions seem to have keener 
normal vision for distant things than those whose eyes have 
habitually rested on nearer objects. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Test the eyes of your pupils carefully by use of the Snellen card, 
and try to understand the variations found. 

2. Should children deal with the larger and more obvious things in 
their nature study work ? Why ? 

3. Observe the effect of a high degree of myopia on the character 
and mental habits of people so afflicted. 

4. Why is it difficult to detect a case of hyperopia by the ordinary 
school tests ? 

5. How may hyperopia cause eye fatigue and eye strain ? 

6. Is myopia cured by glasses ? 

7. How could it happen that children may have a high degree of 
myopia and not be conscious of any difficulty ? 

8. If you have a pupil with a high degree of myopia, and his parents 
refuse to get properly made glasses, how can you manage to teach him 
most effectively so as not to add to the difficulty ? 



246 School Hygiene 

9. Why does astigmatism often produce headaches? 

10. What are the dangers and inconveniences of strabismus (crossed 
eyes) ? 

11. What do you think of the effect of much home study on the eyesight 
of school children ? Why ? 

12. What types of children are most likely to show asthenopia (weak- 
ness of vision) ? Would the Snellen card necessarily detect these cases ? 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Allport, F. The Eye and its Care. Philadelphia, 1896. 174 pp. 
Carter, R. B. Report on the Vision of the Children attending Elementary 

Schools in London. London, 1896. 16 pp. 
CoHN, H. Eyes and School Books. Pop. Sci. Monthly, v. 19, p. 54. 
CoHN, H. Hygiene of the Eye. London, 1886. 236 pp., Ulus. 
Gariel, C. M. Hygiene Oculaire et Inspection des Ecoles. Paris, 191 1. 

244 pp., illus. 
Javal, M. Daylight in the Schoolroom. Pop. Sci. Monthly, v. 16, 

PP- 517-519- 

Martin, G. H. School Hygiene in Massachusetts. Board of Education. 
Boston, 1908. (See especially on eye and ear tests.) 

Rice, D. E. Visual Acuity with Lights of Different Colors and Intensities. 
New York, 191 2. 59 pp., illus. 

Roosa, D. B. Defective Eyesight, etc. New York, 1889. 186 pp., illus. 

Scott, W. D. The Sacrifice of the Eyes of School Children. Pop. 
Sci. Monthly, v. 71, pp. 303-312. 

Swift, E. J. Eye Defects in Students and Children. Pedagogical Sem- 
inary, V. 5, pp. 202-220. 

Weeks, J. E. The Care of the Eyes of Children while at School. Teachers 
College Record, v. 6, pp. 30-42. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE HEARING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Causes of Defective Hearing. — Due to no fault of school 
conditions, a varying number of pupils in any class have de- 
fective hearing. This is usually the result of colds, scarlet 
fever, diphtheria, adenoids, or accidents of one form or an- 
other. The teacher cannot correct these defects, but she can 
adjust her work to those so afflicted as to make it less of a 
strain for them to do the work assigned them. For example, 
poor spelHng may, and often does, result from the inability of 
the child to hear clearly and perfectly the definite sounds of 
the spoken word. Indistinct and imperfect enunciation often 
results from defective hearing. But if a teacher knows which 
of her pupils are defective in this particular, she can place them 
in the most advantageous position for hearing, and she can 
Hkewise take special pains to speak distinctly and with more 
force if needed. Naturally it will be helpful to call the parents' 
or school physician's attention to the defects observed, for 
the deafness may be only temporary, and if taken in time, serious 
results may be forestalled. 

Tests for Hearing. — In schools where a medical inspector 
is employed, it is his duty to make tests and to report the re- 
sults. But in country or village schools where medical help 
is not furnished, the teacher herself can make tests that may 
greatly aid her in understanding the relative degree of deafness 
from which any of her pupils is suffering. 

One of the best tests for teachers who have not been espe- 
cially trained, and who do not have access to the more exact ap- 

247 



248 School Hygiene 

paratus designed for this purpose, is that known as the watch 
test. This test is performed in the following way. Seat a 
child comfortably, and bUndfold him so as not to interfere 
with his hearing. Fasten one end of a tape Hne to the wall 
on a level with the child's ears, and the other on a string run- 
ning at right angles to the tape line, and close to the child's 
ear. Test one ear at a time by finding out how far away he 
can hear the watch tick. It is better to use a large clear- 
ticking watch, preferably a stop watch. While one ear is being 
tested, the other ought to be turned away and covered with a 
thick pad of cotton or something that will bar the sound waves. 
It is sometimes necessary to experiment several times in order 
to make sure that the child is not guessing. Thus, with care, 
it is comparatively easy to find out how far away the watch 
may be heard with each ear. By testing all of the children in 
this way, those who are defective will be found. 

Another simple test, the whispering test, has been used to 
advantage. This consists in finding how far a child can hear 
and distinguish a given list of words or numbers when spoken 
in a whisper. The difficulty with this method lies in the in- 
ability of the teacher or experimenter to regulate the force 
of the whisper. The watch method is preferable. 

The Disadvantages of Defective Hearing. — A child who 
does not hear well is at a disadvantage in many ways. He is 
usually sensitive about his defect and often prefers imperfect 
understanding to making repeated requests for information. He 
is likely to become careless and to take many things for granted. 
Those who are seriously defective become suspicious of others 
and may develop a morose temperament. Besides all these, a 
child who is hard of hearing is handicapped in many ways in 
learning, and his voice may become unnatural and unpleasant. 
It is therefore of great importance to guard the children 
against any accidents or unhygienic conditions that would 
interfere with their hearing, and to give special attention to 
those who are defective. 



The Hearing of School Children 249 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1 . Find out by careful tests which of your pupils are defective in hear- 
ing, and whether the defects that they show are permanent or merely 
temporary. 

2. Why are deaf people often inclined to be suspicious and sensitive ? 

3. Note carefully the quality of the voices of those who are suffering 
from permanently defective hearing. 

4. How far, through improper sanitation, thoughtless punishment, or 
lack of health directions is the school responsible for faulty or defective 
hearing ? 

5. Study carefully the relationship between adenoids and defective 
hearing. 

6. Note what pupils, if any, are subject to colds in the head, and 
whether they also suffer from headaches. Why should one so afflicted 
be warned against forcibly blowing the nose ? 

7. Note whether or not those who have defective hearing are mouth 
breathers. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bezold, F. Schuluntersuchungen uber das Kindliche Gehororgan. Wies- 
baden, 1885. 94 pp. 

Chrisman, O. The Hearing of Children. Pedagogical Seminary, v. 2, 
pp. 397-441- 

Bruner, F. G. The Hearing of Primitive Peoples. New York, 1908. 

113 PP- 



CHAPTER XVII 
THE TEETH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

All thinking people know that the teeth perform a very im- 
portant function in the preparation of the food for digestion 
and assimilation. But comparatively few people are willing 
to take the time and trouble or bear the expense of preserving 
their teeth. They know that health and strength depend on 
proper nourishment, but they are neghgent in a thousand ways 
of the quahty, quantity, and proper preparation of food. Here, 
as in all activities of hfe, habits slowly but surely fasten upon 
us a routine which will help or hinder. Habits of personal 
hygiene, as most other habits, are most easily and firmly fixed 
in youth. Children who grow up without being trained to 
regular and consistent care of their teeth not only invite 
dental decay, but are establishing a habit which will through- 
out their Hves make for carelessness in personal cleanliness 
and all that tends to insure a clean, wholesome mouth. In- 
telligent, careful parents who realize the importance of the care 
of children's teeth, and know something of the formation and 
power of habit, will, of course, train their children to care for 
their teeth and in addition will afford them such professional 
care as their needs demand. 

No one is more loath to suggest an increase in the burden of 
responsibilities teachers carry than I, and no one is more 
anxious to impress upon fathers and mothers the importance 
of doing their whole duty to their children ; but when we learn 
from results of examinations made of hundreds of thousands of 
children in this and foreign lands that at least seventy-five per 
cent of the school children have diseased teeth, that a very small 
percentage of them get any training in the care of their teeth, 

250 



The Teeth of School Children 251 

and that most of them have never been taught to use the tooth- 
brush, we are forced to the conclusion that public school 
teachers must undertake to teach the youth of our land some 
of the fundamentals of oral hygiene, and must also, as far as 
possible, cooperate with the parents in developing in the 
children the habit of properly caring for their teeth. 

It is not my intention to give in this chapter any exhaustive 
discussion of dental hygiene; but rather to emphasize in a 
practical way what can be done in schools to help save the 
children from that sinful neglect to which attention has been 
called. 

Causes of Dental Decay. — Harmful bacteria will get into 
our mouths despite all that we can do, and if remnants of foods, 
especially those containing starch or sugar, are permitted to 
remain in the mouth between meals and especially between 
supper and breakfast, certain of these bacteria will rapidly 
develop, for the moisture and heat of the mouth cavity furnish 
an ideal condition for their rapid growth. As a result of this 
growth putrefaction of these food particles takes place, and 
various kinds of acids are formed. These acids slowly dis- 
solve certain elements composing the enamel, or hard covering, 
of the exposed parts of the teeth, and by and by small pits are 
formed in the more protected parts. These naturally grow 
deeper, for they furnish added opportunity for bits of food to 
find lodgment, and for the bacteria to work undisturbed. As 
these pits, or caries, as they are called by dentists, grow deeper, 
the more porous substance of the teeth, called dentine, is exposed, 
and the decay of the tooth becomes more and more rapid, until 
finally the whole tooth and the nerve connected with it is in- 
volved in the trouble. 

A sound, clean apple with a good glossy peel will keep a long 
time, simply because this covering is able to resist the entrance 
of destructive bacteria, but if that peel is pierced or broken, 
and sufficient heat and moisture are present, decay will begin 
and in a short time a rotten speck will be noticeable. Progress 



252 School Hygiene 

of decay is at first comparatively slow, but if unhindered, it 
increases in geometric ratio until the whole apple is destroyed. 
As long as the peel of a sound apple is kept clean, and unbroken, 
the softer material within is protected. So with the teeth. 
Nature provides, when proper nourishment is afforded 
before and after birth, that the teeth of all normal children 
will be protected from disease by this hard covering of glossy 
enamel. The individual must keep it clean and shield it from 
such usage as would tend to break or destroy it. It is the 
armor of health upon which myriads of invisible foes may 
beat harmlessly, if no lodging place is allowed them. No 
ancient warrior would have dared to meet his foes in mortal 
contest if his battle armor were rusty and eaten full of holes. 
If in the mouth of every adult man or woman in America 
to-day there were thirty-two strong dental warriors wrapped in 
ghstening unbroken armor, our people would be guarded 
against innumerable ills. But unfortunately only a few people 
are thus supplied, and it is more than a personal problem for us 
to determine what ought to be done. 

Dental Clinics in Schools of Europe. — The first school 
dental cHnic in Germany was equipped and opened at Strass- 
burg in Alsace, in 1902. In the two years following the teeth 
of two thousand girls and two thousand boys were carefully 
examined. More than thirty per cent in each group showed 
that one third of all their teeth were diseased. The teeth of 
the girls were more defective than those of the boys. Of 
these four thousand children, only one hundred and four had 
perfectly healthy mouths. In the two years following ap- 
proximately the same conditions were reported by other in- 
vestigators in a dozen of the largest cities in Germany. In- 
vestigations in Denmark, England, Italy, Norway, Austria, 
Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, and our own country 
show that the conditions are almost equally distressing. One 
of the astonishing facts that has come to light as a result of the 
examination of the teeth of school children is that, in most 



The Teeth of School Children 



253 



instances, children from the homes of the more intelligent and 
well-to-do classes are as improperly cared for in this respect as 
those from the poorer and less intelligent classes. The 
school medical officer for Bradford, England, reported, in 1908, 
as result of an examination of " 1491 children between the ages 
of five and thirteen years, 743 of whom attended a school in 
one of the better-class districts, and 748 who attended two 
schools situated in the poorest districts " the following facts : — 



School in 


Per Cent with 
Sound Teeth 


Per Cent with 

not more than 

3 Decayed Teeth 


Per Cent with 4 

OR more Decayed 

Teeth 


Better-class District . . 
Very Poor District . . 


4.72 
7.62 


19-51 
26.06 


75-77 
66.32 



A dentist employed by the authorities of Cambridge Borough, 
England, to examine into the condition of the teeth of school 
children reported in the same year that he had examined 2946 
children, and " the percentage of children with perfectly sound 
teeth, which in the third and fourth years stood at a little over 
eleven per cent, had fallen by the sixth and seventh years to 
two per cent, and by the tenth to the fourteenth to zero." 
" If," he adds, " the temporary teeth be ignored, the per- 
centage of children with perfectly sound permanent teeth at 
five years is just over sixty-four per cent, dropping at seven 
years to twenty-four per cent. It then falls more slowly to a 
little over six per cent in the ninth year, and after continuing 
almost stationary until the tenth year sinks to less than two 
per cent in the eleventh, and after this remains more or less 
stationary. At thirteen and fourteen years half the chil- 
dren have each nine or more permanent teeth carious." ^ 

Results of Examinations in the United States. — We are told 
in the reports of dental examiners that " the teeth of 75 per 

1 Annual Report of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education, 1908, 
P- 55- 



254 School Hygiene ' 

cent of the school children of Cincinnati need attention. In 
nine schools 25,514 children were ' examined (1910) and only 
958 were found with no defects, and many of these needed to 
have their teeth cleaned." In March, 1909, 36,403 children 
were examined in the pubHc schools of Cleveland and of 
these " the teeth of 27,918 were found to be defective, while 
in some classrooms as high as 95 per cent were deficient 
in this respect." In Reading, Pa., the teeth of schoolchildren 
were examined in 1910 by twenty-five of the dentists of the 
city, and it was found that "less than 3 per cent of these had 
perfect teeth." It was also found " that of nearly 9000 boys 
and girls examined in the winter of 1909-19 10, only 4849 had 
ever used a toothbrush, only 1369 had ever been to a dentist 
and 1094 of these had had permanent teeth extracted." As 
a result of dental examination of about 2000 school children 
in Cambridge, Mass., in 1910, the dentists report " the mouths 
of the older children in a deplorable condition, quite 95 per 
cent need immediate attention in order to save what few 
teeth can be saved. The condition of the younger children 
is a httle better, although most of the sixth-year molars need 
immediate attention to save them. Very few of the children 
examined give their teeth any care, even the toothbrush 
being httle used." 

Dental Decay Rapid during the School Life. — It seems 
unnecessary to quote statistics at greater length. If the figures 
given overestimate the conditions somewhat, and we should 
reduce the number of those marked defective by ten per cent, 
the results would show a situation demanding immediate 
attention. From a study of the reports of examinations made 
on hundreds of thousands of children, it is a very conservative 
estimate to say that not twenty in every one hundred school 
children of the intermediate grades have what may in any 
sense be called a normally sound set of teeth. But it will be 
noticed also that the decay is very rapid during the first 
years of school hfe, and that by the time the child is ready to 



The Teeth of School Children 255 

leave school his teeth are in a serious condition. If the teeth 
are to be saved at all, they must be saved by proper care and 
proper use between the ages of five and fourteen years. It 
is a significant fact that if a child can be brought to the age 
of sixteen or eighteen years with sound teeth, he is not 
Hkely to suffer seriously in after hfe from defective teeth, for 
not only will the habit of keeping his teeth clean, and of 
using them judiciously, continue with him, but the teeth 
themselves will have acquired a consistency and strength 
capable of greater resistance to the ordinary causes of decay. 
If teachers and parents realize the true significance of these 
facts, it is safe to conclude that the children will greatly profit 
by the knowledge. While of course the teeth are subject to 
decay at any period of Hfe, it is still true that childhood is the 
period when this decay is most rapid and most easily induced. 

Causes of Increasing Dental Decay. — The question of the 
cause of the great amount of dental disease has been dis- 
cussed by a great number of specialists. The following con- 
clusions seem to be pretty generally accepted : — 

Soft Foods induce Decay. — The teeth of children are not 
given enough proper exercise in these days of mushes, soft 
breads, and breakfast foods. It is a general law of nature that 
an organ of the body will be undeveloped and subject to de- 
generation if it is not exercised according to the demands that 
have produced it. Human teeth were developed to meet the 
demands of the coarser foods. When these coarser foods are 
ground up by machines, the teeth are not permitted to per- 
form their natural function. 

The suggestion for rehef here implied is therefore one of 
proper food supply. Furthermore, active vigorous exercise of 
the teeth on foods that need good grinding to prepare them 
for digestion keeps the teeth pohshed and comparatively clean. 
Bacteria cannot easily gather and maintain their hold on the 
crowns of the teeth, if these are used in grinding the harder 
materials of food. But breakfast mush, and other soft foods, 



256 



School Hygiene 



which nobody can chew with any satisfaction, will gather in 
the cfypts, and unless removed by a brush will soon develop 
busy colonies of bacteria. It has been said time and again by 
competent authority that carious teeth are products, to a con- 
siderable degree of modern civilized Hfe, for children are largely 
fed on soft-cooked foods, and hence do not get sufficient exer- 
cise to keep their teeth well poHshed and strong. 




liHWHi. 



tbmiSk 



Fig. 45. 



-Teaching teachers how to use a toothbrush properly. 
bama, Summer Session. 



University of Ala- 



in a most interesting article in the Dental Cosmos for July, 
1908, Dr. Louis Ottoff, a dentist of Manila, gives an account of 
some investigations that he made on the teeth of the Igorots 
of Bontoc, in northern Luzon. He found that the teeth of 
the Igorot children were almost perfect. He says that the 
percentages of sound and carious teeth of the permanent set 
show that the teeth of Americans and Fihpinos are ten times as 
bad as those of the Igorots. He attributes this remarkable 



The Teeth of School Children 257 

perfectness of the teeth of the Igorots to their vigorous, out- 
door Hfe ; the use of, in the main, a vegetable diet, so cooked 
that much mastication is required ; and the use of Httle or no 
sugar. They never use a toothbrush, and only occasionally 
scrub the teeth with wet sand while they are bathing in the 
streams. 

Insufficient Lime in Food and Drink. — It appears, also, 
that many children are not getting sufficient hme in their food 
and drink to meet the demands for the growth of their teeth 
and bones. This may be due in part to the fact that the great 
majority of people in cities and towns are using surface water 
instead of spring or well water, and hence there is less chance 
for them to get the supply of lime needed. Investigations 
seem to show that in Kmestone countries, where drinking water 
contains a larger per cent of lime, other things being equal, 
diseased and weak teeth are less common. Besides, the chil- 
dren of cities are not, as a rule, getting sufficient milk supply to 
meet the demands of normal growth. Good milk contains a 
comparatively large percentage of lime salts, and if furnished 
as one of the chief diets of children, will supply the needed 
material for the growth of the teeth and the bones. 

Need to teach Children how to use the Toothbrush. — The 
immediate cause of most dental diseases is lack of clearJiness. 
Since the use of soft foods has become so general, greater 
diligence is needed in keeping the teeth clean. Caries are 
nearly always either in the crypts of the crowns or between the 
teeth, where particles of food lodge and decay. Toothbrushes 
are therefore more needed to-day than formerly, and the chil- 
dren must be habituated to their intelHgent use. It is even true 
that most people do not know how to use a toothbrush prop- 
erly. They rub it back and forth across the teeth, instead of 
up and down and across the crowns, so as to allow the bristles 
to dislodge the food particles that gather between the teeth 
and in the crypts. Fewer still apply the brush to the inner 
surface of the teeth. 



258 School Hygiene 

The Oral Hygiene Committee of the National Dental Asso- 
ciation has found it necessary to institute toothbrush drills, in 
order to teach pubHc school teachers the proper use of the tooth- 
brush, so that they may use similar methods in deahng with their 
pupils. In the same way nurses and teachers in those cities 
where dental cKnics have been established have found it nec- 
essary to give specific instruction in the use of the toothbrush 
before satisfactory results could be obtained. Since the gums 




Fig. 46. — Proper method of using a toothbrush. By special permission of Dr. M. H. 
Fletcher, and the Dental Summary. 

need cleansing and brushing to keep them in a wholesome and 
healthful condition, the toothbrush should be placed in the 
mouth with the bristles directed toward the roots of the teeth 
and then brought over the gums and teeth with a twisting 
movement. This will keep the gums healthy and cause the 
bristles to dislodge food particles between the teeth. A special 
hoehke brush has been devised for the inside of the incisors. 
An ordinary brush will meet the requirements for other parts 
of the mouth. 



The Teeth of School Children 259 

It is evident, however, that the deeper and more numerous 
the caries in the teeth, the harder it is to remove thoroughly 
the food particles lodged in these cavities. Besides, as sug- 
gested, the crowns of the teeth are often neglected and here in 
general is the place where the first caries are formed. Crooked 
and badly set teeth are, of course, more difficult to keep clean 
than those in a well-formed jaw, and this point naturally 
suggests help for those with impacted and crooked teeth. 

Decayed Teeth and Germ Diseases. — Not only does a 
habitually unclean mouth furnish the conditions for dental 
diseases, but also for the lodgment of many varieties of 
pathogenic germs. Careful examinations of the mouths 
of school children have revealed the presence in the decayed 
teeth of germs of diphtheria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and 
influenza. It has not been established in any scientific way 
that epidemics have been started from such sources, nor that 
there is grave danger of contagion from defective and infected 
teeth, although this appears to be clearly possible, and, indeed, 
may have repeatedly happened. 

An Offensive Mouth. — An unclean and ill-kept mouth is 
not only insanitary ; it is both disgusting and ugly. A mouth 
in which particles of food are allowed to rot — an ugly word, 
but warranted here — always emits with every spoken word 
the odors generated by putrefaction. People who are so 
careless can never be really polite and inoffensive. On the 
other hand, a mouth with a full set of clean, well-polished, and 
well-set teeth is always attractive. 

Effect of Adenoids on Dentition. — Adenoids, if not early 
removed, so dwarf and narrow the upper jaw that the teeth 
overlap, emerge at the wrong place, and become so crowded 
and displaced that they are weak and ineffective, because they 
do not properly strike the teeth on the lower jaw. Such de- 
formed mouths are ugly, and often defy the skill of the best 
dentist to correct. Teachers and parents ought to see that chil- 
dren suffering from adenoids get early attention. In this con- 



26o School Hygiene 

nection it is well to mention the effect of the use of so-called 
" baby pacifiers," and hard rubber nipples for bottle feeding. 
Those rubber nipples that babies are allowed to suck simply 
to keep them from crying are often responsible for narrowing 
the upper jaw by raising the arch and drawing the incisors 
forward. They press against the roof of the mouth so as to 
raise it higher and hence narrow the jaw. These " pacifiers " 
are not only abominable from the general health point of view 
because they are usually dirty, but their persistent use will 
deform the baby's mouth. 

Good Teeth in Articulation. — Good teeth normally placed 
greatly assist in good articulation. A wide, low arch and well- 
spaced teeth make it possible to avoid many Hsping, hissing 
sounds, to which the Enghsh tongue easily lends itself. While 
there is no desire to state tliis as a chief reason for the proper 
care and treatment of the teeth of children, I do want to 
say that is by no means a small matter. Good, clear, well- 
articulated utterance is worthy of painstaking effort from 
everybody. 

Deposits on the Teeth. — A deposit that the dentists call 
tartar often forms on the teeth near their insertion in the gums. 
This is due to precipitation of mineral matter contained 
in the saHva and fluids present in the mouth. This deposit 
is especially noticeable on the inner part of the lower incisors, 
and sometimes becomes so incrusted and hard as to require a 
dentist to separate it from the teeth. It needs no argument to 
suggest to a thoughtful teacher that children should be taught 
to keep this tartar removed, for it tends to separate the gums 
from the teeth, offers opportunity for the absorption of acids 
and other deleterious matter, in time will get between the teeth, 
and will befoul the breath. It discolors the teeth and will 
eventually injure the enamel and cause the gums to ulcerate. 
Any teacher may easily see the deposits of tartar in a badly 
kept mouth, and one good observation will impress the need 
of care more than pages of earnest entreaty. 



The Teeth of School Children 261 

Care of a Baby's Mouth. — The chief emphasis thus far 
has been placed on the care of the teeth of school children, for 
there the results of carelessness show so plainly. But all 
dentists are agreed that much of the trouble starts with im- 
proper care of the baby's mouth. The temporary teeth de- 
mand protection, also, for only with their proper development 
and use may we expect the appearance of strong and healthy 
permanent teeth. From the very first, the baby's food should 
anticipate the needs for dental development, and baby's 
mouth must be kept clean and wholesome. 

Tooth Powder. — Dentists are practically unanimous in 
recommending for tooth powder a good grade of pure precipi- 
tated chalk suitably flavored. It is best to use this powder dry 
and at least once a day after the evening meal. After other 
meals a good rinsing with the aid of the brush will suflice, 
though the powder may be used oftener if so desired. 

Suggestions. — Here are a few short statements that teachers 
may find useful in impressing upon the children the need of 
keeping their teeth clean. A dirty mouth is a more serious 
menace to health than a dirty face. Teeth are worth more 
than diamonds, for without teeth perfect health is impossible. 
The stomach has no teeth. A sore finger may heal, a decayed 
tooth never. Retiring at night with a dirty mouth means 
rapid decay of teeth. Decayed teeth are the hiding places 
for the germs of contagious diseases. A foul breath means a 
dirty mouth. If you value good health, keep your mouth 
clean and consult a dentist twice a year. Exercise your teeth 
to keep them strong and clean. Teeth always decay from the 
outside. If it is impolite to appear in company with a dirty 
face, it is coarse to speak to a friend out of a filthy mouth. 
No feature of the face is more becoming than well-kept, perfect 
teeth. Artificial teeth are not one tenth as effective as natural 
teeth. 

School Dental Clinics Important. — The time is rapidly 
approaching, whether we wish it or not, when there will be 



262 School Hygiene 

connected with every local school system a dental clinic for 
the examination of the teeth of all school children, and for the 
treatment of those whose parents are either too poor or too 
careless to take proper care of their children. There seems 
to be no other way to insure the children's teeth against decay. 
Meanwhile all children and parents must be taught that the 
first years of school life are critical periods for preserving the 
teeth, and they should be instructed in methods of keeping 
their teeth clean, and in guarding them from decay. Here 
and there in our country, school dental cUnics are now in 
operation, and their rapid development is only a matter of 
time. It is not an individual question ; dental weakness is a 
fruitful condition for general weakness and contagion. So- 
ciety must protect itself from those who, through neglect, 
later become burdens rather than helpers. Twelve of the 
most progressive cities of Germany in their dental clinics in 
191 1 treated 72,704 children at an average cost of twenty-five 
cents per child. It is significant that in Hamburg the Insur- 
ance Committee established dental clinics, in 191 1, for their 
Domestic Servants' section, and is also lending its equip- 
ment to assist the school authorities in their dental work. 
This committee recently engaged to treat forty school chil- 
dren each day at a cost of twenty-six cents per child, about one 
half of the expense to be borne by the parents or the Poor Law 
Committee and the rest by the city authorities. 

Recognized Importance of the Topic. — Dental Hygiene is a 
topic that is now being discussed in all parts of the civiUzed 
world, and its significance appears to be fully recognized by all 
classes of people who are solicitous for the health of the future 
citizen. Naturally, in the midst of the excitement caused by 
the revelation of the lamentable condition of the teeth of 
school children, many writers and reformers have overempha- 
sized the relation of dental disease to the general welfare ; but 
there seems to be no doubt in the minds of the most judicious 
that the situation is serious, and that dental disease is the most 



The Teeth of School Children 263 

widespread disease now afflicting civilized nations. With 
this in mind every teacher in our land has a civic duty to per- 
form in helping to better conditions. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Study carefully the effects of adenoids on dentition. See also the 
results of modern dental work in correcting these defects. 

2. Devise some method of cooperation between dentists and school 
authorities so that country children may have better care of their teeth. 

3. Are children with bad teeth usually defective in any other way? 

4. Find a good method of caring for toothbrushes at school, and of 
giving toothbrush drills. 

5. Teach children to save their teeth, by showing them that it is not 
always necessary to pull out a tooth even when badly decayed. 

6. Why is it important to care for the temporary teeth ? 

7. WiE clean mouths prevent boys from acquiring the evil habit of 
smoking cigarettes ? 

8. Examine the mouths of your school children and note what teeth 
decay first. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

BuRNHAM, W. H. The Hygiene of the Teeth. Pedagogical Seminary, 

V. 13, pp. 293-306. 
Marshall, J. S. Mouth Hygiene and Mouth Sepsis. Philadelphia, 191 2. 

262 pp. 
Report of Scientific Experiments, etc., on the Value of Healthy Conditions of 

the Mouth. Cleveland. W. G. Ebersole et al. April i, 1912. 
Virginia Board of Health. Good Teeth and Bad; the Essentials of Oral 

Hygiene, v. 3, No. 3, March, 1911. pp. 35-47, illus. 
Wallis, C. E. The Teeth of the School Child. School Hygiene (London), 

V. I, pp. 396-399- 
White, P. G. The Necessity of School Instruction in Dental Hygiene, 

Dental Cosmos, v. 50, pp. 23-32. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
STUTTERING 

More Boys than Girls Stutter. — It is a serious hindrance 
to a boy, and possibly more to a girl, to be afflicted with the 
habit of stuttering. There are, probably, five or six boys who 
stutter to one girl so afflicted. Just why boys are so much 
more susceptible to the acquirement of this habit has not been 
fully determined, though much has been written on this ques- 
tion. It is not worth while at this time to discuss at any length 
the reasons given for this disparity; but it may be of some 
general service to teachers to call their attention to the fact 
that girls mature earlier than boys, get control of their muscles 
more readily, and therefore are not so likely to fail in the com- 
plicated coordination of those movements necessary in speaking. 
Our problem, then, is mainly a problem with the boys, since 
girls overcome and, so to speak, outgrow this defect more read- 
ily than boys do. I wish to impress upon all teachers the duty 
that they owe to these unfortunates. It has been my observa- 
tion that there are few teachers who feel it their duty to under- 
take any systematic correction of this fault, for the reason that 
it requires individual help and is, therefore, apparently some- 
what out of the line of regular school work. But are these 
boys and girls who are thus afflicted to be allowed to acquire 
this habit for life, or shall the public schools undertake to help 
them ? It is the duty of the pubHc school in all cases where 
private help is not obtainable. 

Predisposing Causes. — The predisposing causes that are 
largely responsible for stuttering are : a general nervous 
diathesis, or an overanxious temperament. This may be 

264 



Stuttering 265 

due to inheritance, disease, or accident. A child whose nervous 
and physical control is unsteady and somewhat explosive is 
readily affected, and the muscles required to make the deli- 
cate movements and coordinations necessary in accurate 
speech are quite easily thrown into spasms or cramps. Just 
how much of the difficulty is due to inheritance, it is impos- 
sible to say. But there seems to be no doubt in the minds of 
most of the specialists in this field that a child born of stock 
with depleted nervous energy, and undue impression abihty, 
is more hkely, other things being equal, to develop this defect 
than one whose birthright is of a nobler sort. It has been 
found that stutterers belong, very often, to families that show, 
in near or remote generations, an abnormal amount of nervous 
diseases. On the other hand, diseases, especially those that 
deplete the nervous system in childhood, may predispose a 
child born of good stock to this troublesome habit. In this 
connection, it is well to call attention to those defects and 
ailments not generally reckoned as diseases, which often se- 
riously handicap children and induce the weaknesses associated 
with many stutterers. Adenoids, continued indigestion, 
weakness in the power of assimilation, overexertion, general 
anaemia, and undue emotional stimulations are all predis- 
posing causes to stuttering. 

Imitation an Immediate Cause. — Many, perhaps most, 
cases of stuttering find an immediate cause in imitation. 
Children whose nervous systems are unsteady and easily up- 
set are endangered by association with those who speak in 
an uneven, blustering fashion. Here the responsibiHty Hes 
with the home association and training. More than three 
fourths of all children who develop the habit of stuttering make 
a beginning before they reach school age. Denhardt found 
that of 6206 cases, more than eighty-seven per cent were stut- 
tering before they entered school.^ 

1 Das Stottern, R. Denhardt, p. loi. Quoted from Conradi, Pedagogical 
Seminary, v. xi, p. 356. 



266 School Hygiene 

Conradi, in his excellent study of Speech Development of 
the Child, gives the following summary of points relative to 
defects in speech : — 

" I. Inheritance seems to be a predisposing factor. 

"2. Anything that disturbs the nervous system of the child may be an 
immediate cause, especially acute disease. 

"3. Suggestion is a factor in the spread of the disease. 

"4. Stuttering is a children's disease. 

" 5. Second dentition and puberty are periods that favor stuttering. 

"6. Boys are more subject to the trouble than girls. 

"7. It probably retards pupils in their school work. 

"8. Stutterers are not (naturally) mentally inferior. 

"9. Speech defects are often the source of severe psychical depressions. 

"10. The seriousness and the spread of the trouble is such that it de- 
serves more attention from the public and the specialist than is given 
to it in this country at the present time. 

"11. Stuttering and stammering are, with probably a very few excep- 
tions, curable." ^ 

The question now arises, How can pubHc school teachers 
help those who suffer in this way ? 

What can Teachers do for Stutterers ? — First : In all 
city systems of schools some specially prepared and capable 
teacher should be selected to take charge of such pupils, at 
least for some part of each day during regular school hours, 
and also to give direction to their regular teachers so that con- 
sistent and persistent effort would be regularly demanded of 
them. Since the work must be largely individual, and since, 
also, there is a risk in bringing together several stutterers in a 
single class on account of the danger of suggestion and imita- 
tion, it is not well to form a class of such pupils. Let them 
come singly for a short period each day and rigidly enter upon 
a special program of exercises varied to suit their individual 
needs. Here, removed from the embarrassment incident to 
class work, under the sympathetic care of one whose only 

1 Speech Development in the Child, Edward Conradi. Pedagogical Seminary, 
V. xi, pp. 375-376. 



Stuttering 267 

purpose is to help him, much good may be accomplished in a 
short time. 

Second : District school teachers in assisting stutterers 
ought to set apart a Httle time every day, after school hours 
if need be, to give them special drill, and to study their diffi- 
culties. Yes, it will take time ; but the time will be well 
spent. Doubtless, some arrangement may be made with 
the local boards and the county boards as well, whereby schools 
can close a few minutes earlier, or, better, where some additional 
stipend will be granted for this special service. Some way 
should be found to give these children systematic help, and 
the teacher who undertakes it will find most interesting, as 
well as useful, service. 

It would be impossible to give here a detailed method of 
procedure for overcoming this annoying and distressing 
weakness of speech, for, to a certain degree, each child must be 
studied and his individual weaknesses treated ; but there are 
some broad general rules that it may be worth while to con- 
sider, both for the purpose of creating an interest in this phase 
of professional work, and for the suggestions that they may 
develop in those who know how to use general rules. 

Suggestions to help overcome Stuttering. — i. Stuttering 
and stammering are the results of uncoordinated movements 
of the organs of speech. The organs of speech concerned in 
these movements are the muscles of the lower jaw, tongue, 
lips, cheeks, throat, vocal cords, diaphragm, intercostal muscles, 
and, in some cases, the muscles controlling the movements of 
the head as a whole. If to accompHsh a given result the fingers 
of the right hand must be put down in a given order, then 
training will bring this about. For example, if one wishes 
to learn to play on a piano, the fingers must be capable not 
only of rapid consecutive movement, but all sorts of com- 
binations in position, time, and force are needed. So it is in 
speaking a word. The sounds must come in their order, 
with the proper time, force, and intonation. Each different 



268 School Hygiene 

word demands a different combination of these movements, 
A stutterer cannot always make certain combinations without 
repeated efforts. Plainly, then, the problem of his relief is to 
find out where his difficulties Ue and set to work to give him 
ready control of them. If, for example, he cannot say the 
word n-o-t, without frequent repetitions of the sound for w, 
then it is plain that the tongue, the vocal cords, the muscles 
controlHng the chest, and perhaps those controlling the jaw 
do not act in their proper order. Hence, here will be sugges- 
tion for specific drill to bring these into the order required. 
Begin slowly, in a quiet way, and repeat again, and again, 
and still again. Patient, continued effort will bring results. 

2. Pupils must learn to hear exactly the sounds that you 
wish them to make. This rule will apply to all children, 
whether they stutter or not. A clear idea of a sound, vowel or 
consonant, will help very materially in its production. A man 
has little difficulty in walking a beam three feet wide without 
falling off if the beam lies on the ground. But suppose the 
beam were to span Yosemite Valley, where a misstep would 
mean a drop of a mile, would it be easy? In the first case the 
thought would be wholly given to walking the beam ; in the 
second, he could hardly keep himself from thinking of falling, 
and his emotional state would be affected by thoughts of this 
dreadful contingency. And here lies the difficulty. If a boy 
who stutters can be taught to concentrate his thought on the 
definite successions of sound that he is to make, he has mas- 
tered one of his chief deficiencies. If his attention is directed 
toward probable failure, he is more than likely to fail. 

3. Along with the control of thought will go control of emo- 
tion. Nearly all children who stutter or stammer show 
greater inability to enunciate when excited or when disturbed 
by some emotional situation ; and this difficulty increases with 
the growth of sensibility and bashfulness, shown in the pres- 
ence of others as adolescence approaches. There is a double 
duty here suggested for the teacher : prevent, as far as possible, 



Stuttering 269 

those emotional disturbances incident to recitations in which the 
stutterer makes blunders and stands embarrassed before the 
class ; break up the defect as early in Hfe as possible before 
the force of habit and the development of sensibiHty augment 
the difficulties. As suggested above, an isolation from class- 
mates during special drills will help materially. 

4. Control of the breathing is an essential factor in gaining 
power over speech. Definite and continued drill in taking 
breath, and especially in expiration, are very important. 
Any teacher who knows a system of calisthenic exercises de- 
vised for this purpose can give directions and drill in such 
work. 

5. Along with these breathing exercises there should go 
exercises in singing. Almost no stutterer is troubled in singing, 
for his attention is in tone, and he articulates the words so 
slowly that the coordinations are made without stumbhng. 
Tables of vowels, of consonants, and of the two combined 
should be constructed to remedy the defects of each case. 
Here some experimenting must be done, and daily drill re- 
quired. Without doubt one of the difficulties of a purely 
mental sort that a stutterer must overcome is the tendency or 
wish to speak a whole word at once ; a sort of vocal disgorge- 
ment as it were. Such a habit must be broken up at all hazards. 
The teacher should help him and train him to hear the tones 
in their order, think them together, and then speak them 
slowly. One who through such help breaks himself of stutter- 
ing may and ought to become a clearer, better speaker than one 
who has not had such difficulties to contend with. 

Along with all these specific helps general physical education 
is perhaps of paramount importance. Coordination and con- 
trol of the larger muscles give a firm foundation for control 
of the more accessory movements. Stutterers are not neces- 
sarily weak and anaemic, but they have not developed that gen- 
eral poise and control necessary to precise and well-defined 
dehcacy of movement essential in speech. 



270 School Hygiene 

6. Purity of tone is an end worth seeking in all vocal work, 
and with all children ; but it is especially important with these 
defectives. If a child can learn to distinguish good quahty of 
tones from poor, and can acquire abihty to produce such qual- 
ity, he can think tones more clearly and actively than one, 
other things equal, who has not been trained to do so. Purity 
and accuracy in vocalization are closely associated. 

Gutzmann, in his excellent discussion of this defect, gives 
the following general rules for the guidance of one who wishes 
to overcome the habit of stuttering : ^ — 

{a) Speak slowly and without effort. To this end orderly 
listening and undisturbed thinking are necessary. 

{h) Speak in a moderately loud tone. 

(c) Have clearly in mind what you want to say and how you 
wish to say it. " First think, then begin." 

{d) Guard yourself from the inclination to bring everything 
to expression at once ; but speak syllable by syllable, word by 
word, and thought by thought. 

Stammering and Stuttering. — While the words " stutter " 
and " stammer " originally meant the same thing, the latter 
term has come to be applied more frequently to those phases 
of speech defects illustrated by the person who hesitates or 
balks in his speech. This defect may appear as a shght im- 
pediment, or hesitation, or it may become so serious as greatly 
to hmit the usefulness of the unfortunate who labors under 
such a handicap. The pronounced stammerer makes facial 
contortions, inarticulate grunts, hisses, or gasping sounds. 
His actions portray a violent cramping of the muscles con- 
trolling breathing, those controlling the proper use of the jaws, 
or even the outer facial movements. It is painful to see a 
stammerer in the midst of an attempt to speak. It requires 
little observation to see that the mind of the stammerer is, 
during this physical spasm, in a corresponding tonic condition. 
No two persons so afflicted, however, exliibit the same forms 

^ See Das StoUern, Albert Gutzmann, II Tiel, p. 18. 



Stuttering 271 

of inability. With some it is merely a period of total inca- 
pacity to utter a sound, or even to open the mouth. Others 
gasp and struggle noisily, but cannot proceed. Still others 
shake their heads, roll their eyes, and, in fact, try to speak 
with the whole body. This inability may proceed so far as to 
simulate at times a slight epileptic seizure. 

Mental Condition of the Stammerer. — The mental con- 
dition of an adolescent who stammers is a complex no one 
can fully analyze. But there are certain fundamental aspects 
of emotional stress that can be somewhat clearly made out. 
He is keenly sensitive concerning his weakness; he is in the 
grip of a fear that he cannot dispel ; he is largely a slave to a 
suggestion that he cannot overcome ; he fears he cannot speak 
without hesitation and that he will balk if he tries. In his 
calmer, intellectual moments the power and vividness of this 
suggestion is at its minimum. But with the advent of some 
emotional stimulus the ghost of this fear is ever present and 
doubly forceful. Just as objective ghosts, if this appellation 
can be allowed, are seen only at night, so subjective ghosts 
appear in the mind under the stress of emotion. 

It is not a matter of mental weakness ; it is rather the effect 
of emotional vividness fastened and nurtured by suggestion 
and the habits growing out if it. Those who have never been 
aflflicted with stammering can never know the agony of a 
sensitive nature thus afSicted. But it is one of the highest 
gifts of a teacher to look out through the eyes of her pupils, to 
hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts. Blessed 
is the unfortunate stammerer who has the help of a teacher 
with such insight and willingness to undertake an intelligent 
correction. 

It follows from what has been said that the cure for stam- 
mering is largely a mental cure. The subject must overcome 
fear with hope and slow but persistent gains. A counter- 
suggestion must be implanted, nourished, and trained to come 
to his reKef. Scolding will make matters worse. Lack of 



272 School Hygiene 

faith in final success will only serve to render the difficulty 
more insuperable. The vocal organs are capable, for at times 
the child uses them with precision. The brain centers are 
rarely diseased, and perhaps never in cases of pure stutter- 
ing or stammering. They can work well. All he needs is 
control, and this can come by eliminating fear, estabhshing 
faith and slowly but surely gaining a little each day. There 
will be relapses, times when faith weakens, but the wise teacher 
will comfort, inspire her pupil and calmly renew her efforts 
in his behalf. Younger children who are not so self-conscious, 
who do not feel so keenly their defects, will respond to careful 
direction in speaking, and to the quiet suggestions of control. 
But they should be removed from others who stammer, or 
those who nag them or laugh at their weakness. Each nervous 
system has its own index, and the teacher must study each 
individual for variations and hints to guide her. The funda- 
mental point to remember is that the nervous system of a 
stammerer is unstable, and he will lose control under provo- 
cation. 

The suggestions given for correcting stuttering will, in general, 
apply in correcting stammering. In stammering, however, the 
trouble seems more deep-seated and has taken a firmer hold of 
the emotional life as well as of the merely physical. It will 
require more patience and a more fundamental grasp of the 
mental life to deal with it successfully than with the simpler 
habits exhibited in stuttering. But the two defects are closely 
related and shade into each other imperceptibly, or even may 
both be exhibited by a single individual. 

In conclusion, it may be said that the breaking of the habit 
of stuttering or stammering, just as the breaking of any habit, 
demands decision and persistent effort. Speak slowly, think 
clearly, concentrate attention on the thought to be expressed, 
and free the mind of excitement, anxiety, or dread. Read aloud 
slowly, and practice it daily. If the task is entered upon with 
full assurance, results will follow ; but do not expect too much 



Stuttering 273 

in a short time. Every gain will operate to make the next 
gain more certain. Keep the physical and mental health at 
its best. Overwork, loss of sleep, and lack of fresh air may 
cause relapses, but perseverance will overcome these difficulties. 
A boy who will overcome the habit of stammering can be de- 
pended on to overcome other difficulties. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1 . Why do so many more boys than girls develop the habit of stuttering ? 

2. Make a special study of each individual case of stuttering among 
your pupUs. 

3. Outline a definite program for each individual stutterer under your 
care, and note the results of your work, day by day. 

4. Show how imitation sometimes causes stuttering among children. 
Why does imitation seem to play such an important part in starting 
children to stutter ? 

5. Why is stuttering called a disease ? 

6. Does stuttering indicate any mental weakness ? 

7. How much time wiU be required in ordinary cases of stuttering to 
break up the habit? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bell, A. M. Principles of Speech and Dictionary of Sounds, including 
Directions and Exercises for the Cure of Stammering, etc. Washing- 
ton, 1900. 296 pp., illus. 

CoNRADi, E. Speech Defects and Intellectual Progress. Journal Educa- 
tional Psychology, v. 3, pp. 35-38. 

Freeman, Virginia W. The Proposed Movement for Treating Stammering 
in the Public Schools. Educ. Bi-monthly, June, 1910. 

Hartwell, E. M. Stuttering. Boston School Document No. 8, 1894, 
pp. 69-97. 

Lewis, G. A. HomeCure for Stammerers. Detroit, 1907. 415 pp., illus. 

Scripture, E. W. Treatment of Stuttering. Journal Amer. Medical 
Association, April 22, 1911, pp. 1168-1171. 

Scripture, E. W. The Cause and Treatment of Defective Mutation of 
the Voice. Journal Amer. Medical Association, Feb. 11, 1911, 
p. 420. 

Scripture, E. W. Speech Defects and Voice Culture. New York. 8 pp. 

Scripture, E. W. Stuttering and Lisping. New York, 191 2. 250 pp., 
illus. 



CHAPTER XIX 
FATIGUE 

Normal Fatigue is Healthful. — At the beginning of this 
chapter, I wish to say as forcibly as I can that normal fatigue 
is evidence of healthful activity, and those who read herein 
expecting to find excuses for laziness will save time by stopping 
at this point. 

Fewer teachers injure themselves and their students by 
overwork than by dawdling, giving up to useless worry, or by 
working in bad air and in unhygienic clothing. Work is health- 
ful, idleness is positively unhealthful. Work is energizing, 
idleness is weakening. Work enlarges and vitahzes, idleness 
narrows and deadens. Normal fatigue is a necessary con- 
comitant to good health and proper development. This 
truth ought to be taught to all school children and should be 
remembered by all who are striving to be of the most service 
to mankind. He who does not regularly and frequently ex- 
perience a sense of bodily fatigue brought on by an actual tax 
on his physical powers cannot hope to develop nor to maintain 
that physical stamina which is the substratum for all vigorous 
and sane activity. He who never puts his mental powers to 
regular and severe tests, even to the point of sensible fatigue, 
cannot hope to acquire that grip of mental endurance and ini- 
tiative characteristic of the highest type of manhood. The 
first lesson this chapter has to teach, then, is this : Normal 
fatigue induced by legitimate toil, both mental and physical, 
is sensible evidence that we have used our powers in line with 
the demands of the laws of health. For by use the tissues 
are not only renewed and rejuvenated, but they are thereby 

274 



Fatigue 275 

strengthened and trained to purposeful behavior. " He only 
seems to me to live, and to make proper use of life," says 
Sallust, " who sets himself to the performance of a severe 
task." But if normal fatigue induced by worthy activity is 
evidence of healthful living, that abnormal and withering 
weariness due to persistent overwork is evidence of sinful 
living. The most precious force in the world is that generated 
in the human brain and muscle. He who wastes it, and 
teaches others to do so, sins against all for which human energy 
and vigor stand. 

With the hope and desire of giving no excuse in what follows 
in this chapter for lazy, listless, or dawdling work, either in the 
schoolroom or out of it, let the reader now direct his attention 
to some of the intricate problems of fatigue, not with the as- 
surance that he can settle them, but with the hope, at least, 
that he may gain some better understanding of what fatigue 
means, and in so doing prepare himself for a better adjustment 
to his students and a wiser use of his own powers. The sanest 
and wisest man is he who has the power to see what is best 
to do under the conditions he is called to meet, and has the 
physical and moral strength to do it. In the hght of this 
discussion of fatigue, it is not out of place to consider briefly 
the hygiene of examinations, especially those affecting young 
girls of high school and college age. 

Study is Healthful, Worry is Wasteful. — In general, it 
may be said, studious life is a healthful Hfe, if those who engage 
in such activity are furnished proper conditions in which to do 
their work, and are encouraged to maintain a proper balance 
between work and recreation. A student's Hfe of necessity 
must be shielded from dissipation, and even from excitement 
and irregularity. The whole content of a modern curriculum 
emphasizes the value of worthy behavior and incites the stu- 
dent to strive for its attainment. This result of our school 
work is of great importance, and all too frequently is neglected 
in discussions of relative values. 



276 School Hygiene 

Nervousness and Examinations. — It is claimed by many 
teachers that, generally speaking, girls are more conscientious 
about their school work than boys are, and therefore they 
are more likely to overwork than are boys. Be this as it 
may, and I am incHned to beHeve it true to a certain degree and 
in certain cases, yet it seems more than probable that what 
is sometimes interpreted as legitimate work is more or less 
useless anxiety and wasteful worry. This general nervousness 
of girls in the presence of intellectual tasks often exhibits 
itself as lack of inhibition and concentration rather than as a 
superabundance of conscientiousness. Such' a nervous diathe- 
sis as is here suggested is often more marked in the earher 
phases of adolescent girlhood than in those characteristic of 
the more advanced stages of development seen in college 
women. Set periods for severe tests are Hkely to serve as 
stimuh for much worthless and indeed wasteful expenditure of 
energy. It is my observation that girls worry more about 
the outcome of an expected examination than boys do. For 
this reason, if for no others, it seems to me that better educa- 
tional growth and a great saving of energy can often be at- 
tained by focusing attention and emphasis upon the daily 
work of the term and insisting that the mark of proficiency for 
the term's work depends more upon carefully prepared lessons 
than upon the results of any final examinations. Such 
procedure will put the emphasis upon a steady regular pull, 
and will eliminate, as far as possible, undue excitement and use- 
less worry. In addition this regular daily demand will afford 
the best of training in meeting responsibilities with no loss of 
reserve energy. In other words, it will habituate students 
to a regular Kfe and give a training in inhibition and steadi- 
ness which will be a great service to them in their future 
lives. 

It is, of course, a valuable thing to be able to meet the de- 
mands of an examination ; to gather up one's whole mental 
strength and equipment and put them to a severe and purpose- 



Fatigue 277 

ful test. But the ability to do this should grow directly out 
of the daily work of the classroom, and will do so if the teacher 
is alive to the importance of her work and be not overburdened 
with numbers. Provision ought to be made, if possible, at 
each recitation period for a short, direct, and searching oral 
examination on the subject in hand, or that just passed over. 

Worry over Examinations. — Girls are not Hkely to over- 
work if they can be prevented from wasting their energy in 
worry. Personal experience with a number of young women 
who worried themselves into neurasthenia and almost incipient 
insanity has made me feel that long, set examinations are often 
far more serious with them than with boys. The danger of 
overpressure through examinations is especially significant 
in the upper grammar grades and in the high school period, 
when growth is rapid and when the intellectual and emotional 
life are somewhat loosely joined. The examination should not 
be abolished, but it should be so ordered and conducted as to 
furnish no incentive for wasteful worry or disturbing anxiety. 
School authorities should have more faith in the judgment of 
teachers, and teachers should be given smaller classes, in order 
that the daily progress of each student could be determined 
through the medium of recitations and free discussions. 
Huxley once remarked that where systems of examinations are 
all dominant, pupils " work to pass, not to know, and outraged 
science takes her revenge. They do pass, and they don't 
know." 

Fatigue Products. — When a muscle contracts, certain 
changes take place in its tissues. Certain chemical products 
are thus formed, and are known as fatigue products. The 
nerve fiber, which carries the stimulus to the muscle, seems not 
to suffer from fatigue. Fatigue has to do with the motor 
centers, or brain cells, and the muscles. Ordinarily the active 
muscle does not lose its power as quickly as the nerve centers 
involved, and hence fatigue is first noticeable as a failure of 
the nerve centers to control the movements. The reflex cen- 



278 School Hygiene 

ters, such, for example, as those controlling breathing, walking, 
etc., are less subject to fatigue than the higher centers, such as 
those having to do with attention, reasoning, and the other 
higher mental powers. The fatigue products produced in both 
muscle and nerve matter are not completely understood. 
They are toxic when thrown into the circulation ; and if they 
accumulate faster than they can be ehminated by the lungs, 
skin, and kidneys, they will, in a way, poison all parts of the 
body. This poisoning makes us feel fatigued. In other words, 
when we feel sensibly tired, we are, to a certain degree, poi- 
soned by the waste products of our own tissues. 

Symptoms of Fatigue due to Toxic Products. — If the blood 
from a fatigued person could be thrown into the tissues of one 
who is thoroughly rested, it would induce in the latter a feeling 
of fatigue, due to the poisons accumulated in the blood so 
introduced. This experiment has been tried on dogs, but not 
on human subjects, so far as I know. There is no doubt that 
similar results would follow if the experiment could be made 
on human beings without danger. 

Weichart, a German scientist, has recently announced that 
he has discovered an antitoxin with power to neutraHze the 
toxin in fatigue products. He claims that relief from the 
feeling of fatigue can thus be brought about. Be this as it 
may, it is certain that if an individual has torn down a brain 
cell, or used up the energy-producing tissues in a muscle, his 
only real relief from the decreased ability thus produced wiU 
come through rest and a rebuilding of the tissues. 

Symptoms of Fatigue associated with the Destruction of 
Energy-producing Tissues. — By virtue of the loss of central 
nervous energy the most evident symptoms are slowness of 
association and consequent loss of power to recall names 
or to fix or connect new experiences with old ones. There 
follows also lack of power to inhibit, more or less mental con- 
fusion, diminished power of attention, a consciousness of 
inability, a modified emotional tone, and general dullness. 



Fatigue 279 

Naturally these symptoms vary in degree of intensity in each 
individual, and are associated both with the destruction of 
the tissues and with the poisoning influence of fatigue products. 
In the lower grades it is not difficult for an observant teacher 
to see the difference between the responses of the children 
in the evening hours as compared with those in the morning, 
when minds and bodies are fresh and invigorated. 

Fatigue and Posture. — If children get tired, they naturally 
assume awkward and, so to speak, crumpled-up postures. It 
is difficult to sit or stand erect when the muscles are not held 
taut by the regular and unconscious outflow of stimulus from 
the nerve centers. 

Notice how hmp an animal falls when struck a fatal blow. 
All nervous energy is thus withdrawn from the muscles ; and 
what before was an unconscious tension is followed, for a time, 
by total relaxation. It requires much nervous energy to sit 
erect; and one could not easily find a more severe task than 
to sit in one posture for an hour. Hence children need much 
freedom in movement ; and when they are tired, the recumbent 
posture is the one which will rest them most quickly. General 
fatigue has therefore a decided effect on posture, and in this 
way may be a real accessory to scoHosis and other irregularities. 
If our school furniture could be so ordered that all the children 
in the first five grades could assume a recHning position and 
totally relax for fifteen or twenty minutes during a long session, 
it would bring great relief to the children, and at the same time 
prevent much wasteful, desultory effort to work. It is well 
to remember, then, that when you are really fatigued, you are 
fatigued all over. Strenuous, long-continued, physical toil 
will poison the brain as well as the muscles ; Kkewise long, 
continuous mental strain will poison the muscles, as well as 
the brain. You cannot hoe beans all day and do much 
philosophizing at night. 

Normal Fatigue. — The fatigue which comes as the result 
of an ordinary day's work, mental or physical, is normal fatigue, 



28o School Hygiene 

and under normal, healthful conditions will disappear after 
a night's sleep. 

Fatigue becomes abnormal and pathological when a night's 
rest or a longer period does not bring relief. Then we are liable 
to become emotionally disturbed. We worry, become morbid, 
cross, and generally disagreeable. We imagine all sorts of 
difficulties portend, and in time, unless relief is found by long, 
enforced rest, abnormal mental symptoms appear. 

There is such a thing as acquired inability to rest ; so that 
it may become very difficult for one to prevent the waste 
of nervous energy through useless activity. Even in sleep 
an overwrought, nervous person jumps, twitches, and seems 
unable to relax completely. Americans are proverbially poor 
at resting. Herbert Spencer said we had a new disease, and 
called it Americanitis. 

On the other hand, it is equally possible to acquire the habit 
of relaxation, and snatch moments for rest even during the 
daytime. If one can command enough self-control to Ue 
down and relax instantly, a few minutes of such rest will do 
more to regain strength than all the tonics on the market. 
Indeed, the health of our people is menaced by resorting to 
stimulants to deaden the sense of fatigue, wrongly concluding 
that such concoctions reHeve fatigue. They, in reality, 
merely blind one to the danger, and render him insensible to 
the warning that nature normally gives. 

Methods of testing Fatigue. — Many methods have been 
devised for testing the fatigued condition of muscle and mind ; 
but none have been found entirely reliable or complete. 
Disregarding further unanswered questions regarding muscular 
fatigue, let us ask the question. How shall we know for a cer- 
tainty whether our pupils are really fatigued or whether they 
are merely lacking in appKcation ? It may be well to say, 
again, that there can be no natural tire of muscles which does 
not to a certain degree fatigue the brain, and that no brain 
fatigue can be induced which does not Hkewise fatigue the 



Fatigue 281 

muscles. But some work is chiefly physical and some pre- 
dominatingly mental. Hence we can with some show of 
propriety separate them for purposes of discussion. Kraeplin 
attempted to determine the decrease in efficiency in a con- 
tinued piece of work, and to regard this decrease as an index 
of fatigue. One series of experiments consisted in the addition 
of long columns of figures in order to note the number added 
in any five-minute period and the number of errors made. 
This method is only indirectly available for school children. 
Burgerstein undertook to find the best way to use an hour's 
time in arithmetical work. Ten minutes were used in mul- 
tipKcation and addition followed by five minutes' rest. It 
was found that while the amount of work done in the last 
quarters might equal that done in the first, the number of 
errors and corrections increased. Naturally such exercises are 
not usual in school work, and while the results obtained are 
suggestive, they cannot authoritatively determine the length 
of a work period, nor dictate the rest periods between. They 
do show, however, a mental confusion associated with fatigue. 

Griesbach undertook to determine what effect a fatigued 
condition might exert on the discriminative power of the mind 
by testing the shortest distance between two points simulta- 
neously touching the skin that would give a consciousness of 
two distinct impressions. He found, in general, that as fatigue 
increased, the compass points must be further separated. This 
test is helpful, but can only be used to any advantage by a 
trained person. 

Schuyten undertook in his school at Antwerp to test the 
children by finding how correctly they could copy certain 
combinations of letters in a given time during various periods 
of the day. He found that more corrections and mistakes 
were made toward the close of the day, for the children could 
not, or did not, attend so carefully and did not concentrate so 
completely on their work. 

Ebbinghaus took a selection of prose composition, dropped 



282 School Hygiene 

out certain words, syllables, and letters here and there through 
the selection, and sought to find when and under what normal 
conditions the children could fill them in with fewest mistakes. 
The results obtained furnish no conclusive evidence that this 
method can be used to any direct advantage by the average 
teacher. 

These experiments have been commented on because, in a 
way, they are the most important yet made, and have in general 
stimulated to other experiments of more promising value. 

The plain truth of the matter is that at this time there are 
no known experimental tests for fatigue which can be satis- 
factorily used by teachers in the regular schoolrooms. The 
teacher must yet rely in the main upon common sense and 
careful and discriminative observation of her pupils. A 
thorough knowledge of the methods of testing for fatigue and 
some experience in making tests will, however, help the teacher 
to a more discriminating analysis of the mental and physical 
condition of her pupils in this respect. If they are inattentive 
and lacking in concentration, she may find the cause in bad 
air, an overheated room, uncongenial work, or possibly phys- 
ical fatigue. But if she is keen to see back of appearances 
to the causes, she can read fatigue in expression, failure of 
response, bad order, or a score of other reflexes. Lack of in- 
terest in school work is often lack of brain energy. Under 
normal condition the work of the morning hours is done 
with a zest not seen in the afternoon. Certain subjects fatigue 
the mind more readily than others, and each subject has, to 
a certain degree, its individual fatigue index. Here, of course, 
the methods of presentation have largely to do with attention 
or the lack of it. In general, a good method calls forth the 
highest quality of concentration, attention, or discrimination, 
and hence would, in general, be more fatiguing than thoughtless, 
scattering work. As skill to do in any line increases, general 
fatigue lessens for a given amount of time. It is tremendously 
hard work to learn to ride a bicycle, translate Latin poetry, 



Fatigue 283 

or write an essay. But as skill develops less energy is needed, 
or perhaps it would be better to say less energy is wasted, and 
the work is done with less fatigue. 

Winch has recently made extended investigations on mental 
fatigue in day-school children.^ One group worked arithmetical 
problems early in the morning, the other late in the afternoon. 
The difference in improvability shown by the early and late 
working groups is taken as the measure of fatigue, and its 
effects toward the end of the day. 

His conclusions may be stated, briefly, as follows : (i) Boys 
and girls between six and seven years of age get very little, if 
any, value from arithmetical work done late in the afternoon. 

(2) A comparable group, doing their work early in the morning, 
gained above twelve per cent in ability to handle such work. 

(3) Two groups of children, about eleven years of age, one 
working in the early morning and the other in the late afternoon, 
both showed gains, the late workers eight per cent and the early 
workers eleven per cent. (4) Two comparable groups from a 
boys' school — boys about thirteen years of age showed very 
little difference in their improvement, the early workers hav- 
ing a slight advantage. 

The results of the whole experiment seem to show that 
mental work involving reasoning of this sort appears to be less 
and less affected by fatigue engendered by the school day as 
children increase in age and mental capacity. For the older 
and more proficient children the fatigue effects, thus observ- 
able, were very small indeed. 

TOPICS FOR STUDY 

1. What times of the school day do you find your pupils most studious ? 
Why? 

2. How much inattention in your school is due, directly and indirectly, 
to fatigue ? How much to lack of clearly directed work ? 

^See British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 4, pp. 317-341. 



284 School Hygiene 

3. How many rest periods for the various grades should be given each 
day ? How long should these be ? 

4. Determine, as nearly as you can, the most economical length of 
recitation periods for each of the subjects taught, and for each grade. 

5. Devise such tests as you can to determine the influence the noon 
period has on mental alertness. 

6. Do your pupils get regular and sufficient sleep in well-ventilated 
rooms ? 

7. How far do evening parties and late hours enter into the problem of 
so-called overpressure in schools ? 

8. Are set examinations at the close of each term of school advisable ? 
Why ? How may examinations be conducted so as to prevent wasteful 
worry in anticipation? 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Abelson, a. R. Mental Fatigue and its Measurement by the Msthesi- 

ometer. International Magazine of School Hygiene. Vol. 5. 1908. 
BiNET and Henri. La Fatigue Intellectuelle. Paris, 1898. 338 pp. 
De Brath and Beatty. Overpressure. London, 1899. 236 pp. 
Ellis and Shipe. A Study oj the Accuracy of the Present Methods of 

Testing Fatigue. Amer. Journal Psychology, Vol. 14, pp. 496-509. 
GOLDMARK, Josephine. Fatigue atid Efficiency. New York, 191 2. 
GuLiCK, L. H. Mind and Work. New York, 1908. 201 pp. 
Hodge, C. F. A Microscopical Study of Changes due to Functional 

Activity in the Nerve Cells. Journal of Morphology, Vol. 7, pp. 

95-168. 
James, W. The Gospel of Relaxation. Talks to Teachers. New York, 

1889. pp. 200-228. 
James, W. The Energies of Men. (Chap. X.) Memories and Studies. 

New York, 1911. 411 pp. 
King, F. T. The Evils of Cram. Dunedin, 1906. 93 pp. 
MacDougall, W. The Condition of Fatigue in the Nervous System. 

Brain, November, 1909, pp. 256-268. 
Mosso, a. Fatigue. New York, 1904. 334 pp. 
Opener and Whipple. Mental Fatigue. Baltimore, 1911. 133 pp. 
Robinson, L. A. Mental Fatigue and School Efficiency. Columbia, S.C., 

1912. 56 pp. 



CHAPTER XX 

HYGIENE OF INSTRUCTION 

Education is primarily a growth in power of body and mind 
to make one's life count for most for himself and others ; to 
gain a worthy mastery over his own nature and the forces of 
the world all about him. He who knows what he ought to do, 
how he ought to do it, and has at the same time acquired 
desire, power, and skill to accomplish, approximates the pur- 
poses of his Hfe. Any system of instruction that is designed 
to give him these adjustments in the most economical and well- 
balanced way approximates the demands of wholesome 
training. 

Health applies to Mind as well as Body. — Good health is 
a term which may be applied to the mental life as well as to 
the merely physical ; and as a teacher's work consists largely 
in bringing the mental Hfe of the child into touch with the com- 
plicated processes and worthy products of his civilization, there 
is urgent need that this adjustment be made with as little 
resistance as possible. It is proposed, therefore, to discuss 
briefly in this chapter some of the fundamental laws of mental 
hygiene to the end that some added emphasis may result 
in establishing the principle that learning should proceed 
rationally and without useless friction. 

Properly Apportioned Work is Healthful. — Rigid, timely 
mental tasks properly apportioned, intelhgently assigned, and 
done in good light, pure air, and with normal physical energy 
and mental control at hand, are both wholesome and invig- 
orating. Habits of listless mental work are as unsatisfying 
and weakening as habits of lazy physical work. It is good 
hygiene, then, to make the schoolroom a place for vigorous 

28s 



286 School Hygiene 

and earnest effort on the part of every student. He who does 
not learn to study seriously and energetically cannot acquire 
his full measure of power. Other things equal, he gets most 
from his school work who in early school life develops the power 
of concentration and learns to relish the challenge of his keenest 
endeavors. I hold it true, therefore, that no teacher is teaching 
in an hygienic way who does not through every possible and 
legitimate effort habitually call forth strong, robust mental toil 
from her pupils. A lazy, indolent school life cannot be health- 
ful under any conditions. 

Teach Children how to Study. — Children need to be taught 
how to study, and they must be shielded in every way from 
acquiring habits of desultory work. Teachers are constantly 
saying that their pupils dawdle, work aimlessly and with 
divided minds. This is as harmful to healthful mental devel- 
opment as a corresponding spiritless physical exercise is for 
fullness of bodily health and growth. But what can be done 
to stop this evil habit of desultory studying in school, or, better, 
what can be done to prevent its development? Without 
presuming to be able to answer this question satisfactorily 
to all, the following suggestions are offered with the hope that 
they will at least aid some teachers : — 

(a) Make out a daily program in which each student 
will find a specific time schedule for study as well as for recita- 
tion. This program ought to be in plain view of all the 
students and by the aid of the clock they can see just when 
they ought to have finished their preparation for each lesson. 
When the time set apart for the study of one lesson has passed, 
all who are not reciting ought to be trained to go immediately 
to the preparation of the next subject in order. In other words, 
a definitely stated time for the study of each lesson, and habit- 
ual preparation for it at this time, will do much to ehminate 
purposeless work. By this means the teacher will know how 
much time has been devoted to each lesson, and can gauge 
the results accordingly. Such a program will utilize the tend- 



Hygiene of Instruction 287 

ency to a time habit, and, best of all, will teach children how to 
save time through concentration and businesslike procedure. 

(6) At stated times and in the different subjects utilize 
the period set for the recitation for taking up the next lesson 
and studying it with the class. This will enable the teacher 
to select out in one-two-three order the essentials of a lesson 
and then to teach the children how to lay hold on these in a 
positive way. It will enable her to "speed them up" in their 
work by showing them how much can be done in a short time. 
Listless work is death to good habits of study, as well as to 
normal mental vigor. 

(c) Assign lessons with great care and with a full under- 
standing of the subject matter involved and the probable 
difficulties likely to arise. This will necessitate careful prep- 
aration on the part of the teacher with reference to lesson 
arrangements. I believe I can tell a good teacher as readily 
through her lesson assignments as through her work during 
a recitation. A clear, specific, definitely assigned lesson helps 
pupils mightily in their preparation of it. When a teacher 
takes a minute or two at the close of a recitation to say, "In 
the next lesson there are certain things of special importance, 
which I am anxious to have you get. Give attention, and I'll 
point them out," then I know she is much more Hkely to get 
work done than one who says, "For the next lesson take to 
page 51." But more important still, she is developing power 
to seek for essentials. With these points clearly in mind, the 
teacher in assigning a lesson does so with a full knowledge of 
the time set in which to get it, and she will be less Kkely to 
transgress in length of lessons. 

{d) Having assigned a lesson in this definite and conscien- 
tious way, then let the teacher hold her pupils responsible 
for the lesson. Nothing is more weakening and fruitful of 
desultory work in school than the failure of the teacher to 
exact of her pupils completion of all tasks which have been 
wisely and judiciously assigned. There is such a thing as a 



288 School Hygiene 

habit of success, which will carry a pupil over many difficulties. 
A weakened and irresolute will results from repeated failure 
to meet the work of Kfe as it comes. It is distinctly unhygienic 
to both body and soul to acquire a habit of dawdling. 

Evils and Good of Home Study. — The pros and cons of 
home study have been discussed much of late both inside and 
outside the teaching profession. The general conclusion seems 
to favor home study for the higher grammar grades when it 
is wisely directed by the teacher and given in the nature of 
drill work rather than in advanced work. For students of 
secondary schools there seems to be no good reason why, with 
favorable conditions, they cannot do from a third to a half 
of their actual study work at home. But in both cases indi- 
vidual needs and individual conditions must be considered. 
Some homes are favorable for home study, others offer many 
hindrances. Some states in our country have enacted laws 
against home study for all children below the high school 
period. Some European countries, notably Switzerland, have 
taken the same action. The general testimony of our teachers 
working under these laws is to the effect that there has been 
less loss than anticipated. The truth of the whole matter is 
that if children of the grammar grades work diligently during 
school hours, there is generally little need for them to spend 
much time in home study in order to do the work demanded 
by the curriculum. Therefore, it is in every way a vital prob- 
lem to teach children how to study and hold them to their 
highest efforts during the time school is in session. 

Time needed for Recreation. — Each child has a right to 
sufficient time for recreation, and for voluntary general reading, 
and the physical nature of the child will demand such recrea- 
tion, or it will even up by relaxed and dawdHng efforts in things 
mental during school hours. 

"The role and significance of hygiene for learning," says Dr. Book 
in his excellent study of the Psychology of Skill, "can hardly be over- 



Hygiene of Instruction 289 

emphasized. It was found in this study that the number, length, succes- 
sion, and seriousness of the irregular lapses in spontaneous attention and 
effort that occurred throughout the course of a test depended not alone 
upon the difficulty of the work, but more upon the hygienic condition of 
the nervous system and of the body of the learner at the time of the 
test. It was also found that the fluctuations in efficiency which occurred 
from day to day meant variations in the general mental and bodily con- 
ditions of the learner, that the easiest way to regulate and control them 
was by an improvement in the learner's general neural tone induced 
by sleep, rest, exercise, food, change of attitude or mood, by the selec- 
tion of more favorable weather conditions, or by anything else that would 
improve his hygienic condition. It was found, further, that these daily 
lapses in attention and effort were responsible for the longer irregular 
lapses at the 'breathing places' in the curves. These facts taken with 
the following, namely, that the learners could do nothing directly {i.e. by 
sheer act of will) to control the fluctuations in attention and effort; 
that the forward steps in the learning were made quite unconsciously, 
the organism adapting itself to the conditions presented with little help 
from consciousness ; the new adaptations were made only during a good 
period and on a day when attention and effort could be spontaneously 
and vigorously applied to the work — these facts indicate clearly the 
significance of hygiene for learning and the particular role it plays. It 
is not what the learner would like to do, but what his mental and physical 
condition at the time of study or practice will let him do, that is impor- 
tant for determining his progress. The process of learning typewriting 
is something like mowing a field. The farmer takes out his machine to 
cut his grass. He can only keep his machine in good condition and 
vigorously apply it to the work ; the machine does aU the rest. It does 
its own work in its own way. How well it works depends upon the 
nature and condition of the machine. So with a learner in typewriting ; 
he begins to learn to use the typewriter. How well he does the work^ 
how rapidly he improves, depends, (i) upon how strenuously he keeps 
himself applied to the task, (2) upon the learner, the mental and physical 
condition of his organism. He must keep himself in perfect condition 
and strenuously applied to the work; the organism does the rest. He 
needs but to consciously lay hold of, and make proper use of, the adapta- 
tions that are unconsciously fallen into, the habits and associations 
formed. AU this suggests that if one wants to improve at the most rapid 
rate, he must work when he can feel good and succeed, then lounge and 
wait until it is again profitable to work. It is when all the conditions 
are favorable that the forward steps or new adaptations in learning are 
made. Whether the older associations are at such a time also more 
u 



290 School Hygiene 

rapidly perfected or whether monotonous practice will answer well as 
stimulating their growth, we cannot say." ^ 

Impressions and Expression. — Impressions of the proper 
sort should precede and guide expression. In the beginning 
of the child's life, racially fixed reflex centers are the sources 
from which flow the expressions, which immediately start 
the impressions, and pari passu with these, consciousness is 
developed. Later and in a more or less definite order instinc- 
tive tendencies assert themselves and these, when properly 
interpreted, represent long-repeated racial experiences. These 
instincts as they arise prompt to their characteristic expres- 
sions, and, to the wise teacher, become the sign posts to guide 
her in her work of adjustment. The desire to play is such an 
instinct, and points to methods and materials which the teacher 
cannot neglect if she would deal with child life economically 
and with wholesome effect. In other words, and in a more 
general fashion, that teacher who takes advantage of the hints 
which instinctive desires propose, under normal conditions, 
will most nearly meet the demands of mental hygiene. Hence 
things before words ; experience before elaboration ; language 
before grammar; a need for accuracy in number relations 
before arithmetic ; direct contact with the conspicuous features 
of the earth's surface before geography; something definite 
to say before undertaking to write a composition; an idea 
of the form of the letters before beginning to write; a clear 
impression of the form and parts of a word before speUing; 
as distinct a notion as possible of the pronunciation before 
trying to speak a word ; finally, "impression before expression." 
This is a fundamental law in mental assimilation and must 
be followed, else a sort of physical overfeeding with its ac- 
companying disquiet will inevitably result; for mental diges- 

^ See The Psychology of Skill, with Special Reference to its Acquisition in 
Typewriting, William F. Book, University of Montana Publications, Bulletin 
No. 53, pp. 180-181. 



Hygiene of Instruction 291 

tion, just as physical digestion, depends on a proper and timely 
food supply. 

Value of Expression. — Expression amplifies, corrects, and 
vitalizes impressions. Hence it is unhygienic from the point 
of view of sanity to undertake to divorce expression from 
impression. Instinct urges us to express, and all learning 
should find some natural, immediate, and laudable expression. 
Having felt the need for power over the multiplication table 
and having attained to this power, it is the duty of the teacher 
to apply it to the solution of problems related to the child's 
experience. There is no problem involved if I ask a child to 
multiply 283 by 57. These figures stand for nothing, and 
to the child they mean nothing. But if he wishes to find out 
how many apples there are in 283 baskets, each basket con- 
taining 57 apples, then he will reaHze that power to perform 
this operation will help him to solve quickly this problem. 
Problems are mental things, and figuring is merely a means 
of quickly getting accurate solutions. The matter contained 
in our daily lessons can be made significant and truly educative 
only when it is related and put to use. Interest is an emo- 
tional state arising when mental assimilation is taking place, 
when the subjective and the objective are wrought into unity. 
In other words, it is the expression of satisfaction with the 
mental bill of fare, and of a faith in its food value. Action, 
or expression, is the fundamental purpose of mind. For my 
part I can see very Httle purpose in mental Hfe save as it 
guides, directs, and stimulates in the various activities of Kfe. 
Mind has little meaning apart from its effect on the behavior. 
It therefore follows that that mind which has been organized 
about worthy expression in this larger sense is the mind most 
normally and thoroughly educated. Dr. Lincoln expressed 
this general idea with force and appropriateness when he said : 
" It is worth hours, nay years, of reflection for the teacher to 
get an insight into the principle that action is on a higher plane 
tJmn thought. Not mechanical unconscious reflex or uncon- 



292 School Hygiene 

sidered action, but action based on correlative thought, is 
what is meant. Neither is muscular activity and skill what 
is meant, though the bodily accompKshments are of the highest 
importance. The principle to be recognized is that every one 
of our feelings and thoughts has its correlated outward ex- 
pression, and that the laws of physiology, of mental health, 
and of character require the completion of thought or feeling 
by expression in action. And as that which completes is the 
higher, so action is higher than feeling or thought." ^ 

Manual training, now so much talked about, may or may 
not meet the demands for this normal and educative activity. 
If it is dosed out as so much unrelated work to be accompUshed, 
it may become as much a grind as the average lesson in gram- 
mar. If it comes as an opportunity for the boy to express 
a desire or thought and thereby correct and complete his think- 
ing in a given direction, then it is of peculiar educational value. 

In this connection it may not be tedious to say that because 
life's demands are becoming increasingly complex, mental 
degeneracy is increasingly common, and in part results from 
overstimulations without correlative and significant expressions. 
Max Nordau's hysterical outcry some years since had sufficient 
elements of truth in it to afford a warning.^ 

Dangers of Overstimulation and Overcrowding. — Mental 
overstimulation results in loss of power to assimilate, and hence 
in functional disturbances which produce a feeling of revulsion 
directly opposed to learning. 

Much has been said of late concerning the overcrowding 
of the curriculum and the great number of subjects compre- 
hended in it. There is a serious danger in this congestion, 
but the danger arises not so much from overwork, as from 
lack of time to digest what is offered. Learning ought to be 
received with a relish comparable to that which attends the 
eager satisfaction of bodily hunger. It is as natural for the 

^ See Sanity of Mind, p. 100, Dr. D. F. Lincoln. 
2 See Degeneration, Max Nordau. 



Hygiene of Instruction 293 

healthy mind to seek satisfaction in knowledge and wisdom 
as it is for a healthy body to satisfy the cravings of hunger. 
If our school work were natural and real, and the mental nour- 
ishment offered were properly proportioned, wholesome, and 
nutritious, instead of much lassitude and lack of appetite 
for it, there would be an eagerness and a hankering after it 
not often seen. A stuffed body gets bulky out of all propor- 
tions to the demands of usefulness. Muscle, not fat, has 
transformed the world. A mind fed as if it were to be sent 
to market totters under its own load. There is no power, no 
impetuosity, no initiative, no enthusiasm when learning is 
forced and given every thirty minutes in allopathic doses. 
Under such pressure nature develops a resistant not far re- 
moved from nausea. 

The danger from a crowded curriculum, then, as it seems to 
me, is not primarily that of too much work, but of mental re- 
vulsion. The more the mind works under the stimulus of 
interest, and within the rather wide boundaries of endurance, 
it is gaining in power to accompHsh and is in no danger of 
revolting. But when learning is divorced from interest, and 
especially when it becomes actively associated with distaste 
and repugnance, then mental health is endangered and the 
moral Hfe is dulled. 

The crowded program can be handled without killing 
interest and without benumbing all the centers of spontaneity, 
if books and subject matter are used according to the demands 
of normal child Hfe. No sort of grind will at first recommend 
learning. But contact with real things in a vitaHzing way, 
and the use of books to suggest and guide in observation, and 
to connect up the materials of experience, are, under whole- 
some conditions, never distasteful. There is nothing more 
deadening to the average child mind, however, than to set 
him to work on a lesson with no hint or suggestion of what 
he may expect or what possible relation such a lesson will bear 
to his needs or desires. 



294 School Hygiene 

What Dr. Chittenden has said in reference to our physical 
food supply ought to give us a hint with reference to mental 
diatetics. He says we can " diminish the amount of our food 
one half with no detriment to health." More perfect assimi- 
lation of things mental will give better mental health than any 
stuffing process yet devised. 

But it must be remembered that the brain is a series of 
highly speciahzed centers, and that it needs a variety of stimuli 
to insure that functional growth its organization calls for. 
Hence there is need for variety in the curriculum, though this 
does not mean daily dissipation. This remark ought to sug- 
gest to all teachers this question : How can I arrange a pro- 
gram which will include the materials of the curriculum, 
and yet safeguard the children against sudden changes and 
regular dosage in opposition to their varying mental appetites ? 
There is little doubt that our programs are too rigidly ad- 
hered to at times, and that we fear to take advantage of mental 
inertia in given subjects. But on the other hand freedom in 
the hands of thoughtless teachers is Hcense to introduce what 
may lead to even more serious dissipation. 

Premature Demands on the Nervous System. — When those 
parts of the nervous system involved in the demands made are 
still undeveloped, or even underdeveloped, there is danger of 
brain fatigue or, what is still more likely, inability to function 
properly, and hence erroneous connections are made and vital 
interest impossible. The power to reason is primarily the 
abiHty to recognize Hkenesses and differences, and to handle 
these elements abstractly. Reasoning depends on associa- 
tion, and association depends on functional connections be- 
tween the various cortical centers. If these association 
fibers are not meduUated or insulated by their proper sheath, 
they cannot function, and hence under such conditions, 
proper connections between ideas are impossible. If a limited 
number of connections have been made, they cannot economi- 
cally take charge of the work that normally belongs to those 



Hygiene of Instruction 295 

still undeveloped. There is danger, then, that the teacher, by 
reason of her well-organized mind, will fail to recognize these 
gaps in brain function and attempt to exact demands wholly 
beyond the power of the children to meet. The hygienic use 
of the curriculum demands a sympathetic insight into the 
functional workings of the brain, and at the same time a skill 
in handling the material so as to select from it those parts 
which wiU fit in with the power to receive and assimilate. 
Precocity is frequently a dangerous symptom, for it means 
that general powers are called on to do specialized work, and 
habits are thus fixed which preclude at a later period short cuts 
and greater economy of effort. It is a recognized principle 
of great importance to mental welfare that the fundamental 
and coarser movements of any organ or series of organs are 
those that develop first, and that the finer or accessory parts 
are comparatively late in reaching their maximum powers. 
Many normal children at six years of age cannot lift their 
fingers from a table separately and in order; but these same 
children may have a good control of the larger movements 
of the arms. It would certainly be unjustifiable to set finger 
exercises on a piano for such children, or to attempt to have 
them do with their arms what their fingers later will be better 
adapted to do. Children must learn to walk before they can 
dance, jabber before they can talk, become acquainted with 
their own desires before they can appreciate the desires of 
others, and see in the large before they gain power to analyze. 

When children are called on by a teacher to get from a 
printed page what they have not in some fashion and in es- 
sential elements gained through experience, that teacher 
may certainly prepare for disappointment. But the harm 
done would be slight if it merely stopped at disappointment 
to the teacher. The children are puzzled, they learn to balk, 
and in time lessons become distasteful and habitually tedious. 

Follow the Order of Mental Development. — Considera- 
tion of the sins committed against children in this way has 



296 School Hygiene 

led some teachers to extreme views. One says in substance : 
The present school system seems to be arranged without regard 
to the order of mental development, but is based on acci- 
dent rather than on reason. A thorough knowledge of child 
mind points to the conclusion that reading, writing, and arith- 
metic do not properly belong to the early years of child life. 
They all involve more than a child under ten years of age ought 
to be asked to do.^ 

It is a common observation to note how easily and quickly 
children pick up a foreign language, and how difhcult it is for 
an adult. Children are naturally susceptible to spoken lan- 
guage, and their brains are pecuHarly ready to fasten upon 
words, phrases, and forms. 

Experiment in the Philippines. — Our government is at 
this time concerned with one of the greatest experiments in 
the teaching of a modern language the world has ever seen. 
The school children of the Philippine Islands have been set 
the task of learning to do all of their school work in a foreign 
language, and in three years' time under very unfavorable con- 
ditions they acquire a fair command of our tongue and at the 
same time learn to calculate a Httle, and to read and write. 
They learn something of geography, nature study, agriculture, 
manual work, and incidentally many other things along with 
the language. It would be utterly impossible to make the 
same progress with ignorant adults. The secret of the success 
with these children lies in the fact that they are set to do what 
their brains are prepared to handle economically. 

Proper Treatment of Backward Children. — There are in 
all city systems of schools, and not infrequently in countr}'- 
schools, children who, through inheritance, defective nourish- 
ment, or the lingering effects of disease, are not capable of 
keeping pace, at least for a time, with the more favored members 
of the class. These children are not only Hkely to suffer from 

^ See Should a Child wider Ten learn to Read and Write? G. W. T. Patrick. 
Pop. Sci. Mo., Vol. 54, pp. 382-392. 



Hygiene of Instruction 297 

faulty classification, but they are frequently hindrances to 
the normal progress of their classmates because of the fact 
that they demand more than their due proportion of the 
teacher's time. Many such children are not dunces, and may, 
with proper care, develop into worthy and useful members of 
society. They are not capable of acquiring a mastery of the 
fundamentals requisite for every self-helpful citizen. The 
school organization is at fault if children are not furnished 
the opportunities and the time for the work best suited to 
their development and future needs. The teacher is at fault 
who does not daily attempt to give them the mental rations 
their progress demands. 

Special Classes. — In large city systems of education in this 
country, and particularly in Germany, special classes or auxil- 
iary schools have been organized and equipped for the care 
of these children. Teachers are trained and selected for this 
special work, and as a result better adjustments are obtained 
all around. In country schools, or small city systems, flexible 
grading and a greater amount of individual instruction seem 
to be the only courses open to the teacher in deahng with these 
belated and slow growers. Here tact is required ; and most 
of all definite plans, to be entered upon with the understanding 
and consent of the parents, are needed. When a course of this 
sort is marked out, which has for its aims better adjustment, 
there is no need to call it an easier course, a shorter course, or 
a course designed for weakhngs. -It simply is a better course 
for these children, and should be as dignified and honorable 
as any other course of work offered. It is essential that such 
work differ in kind as in quality, but it must be guarded from 
any possible suggestion of inferiority. (See Chap. XXI.) 

Saving through Habits. — It is good hygiene to turn over 
to the spinal cord or some lower center much of the mechanical 
and oft-repeated work of life, so that the higher centers may 
devote their energies to those activities demanding conscious 
guidance. After conscious training in writing, walking, read- 



298 School Hygiene 

ing, speaking, spelling, figuring, and many other common 
requirements, the child should be trained to do them by the 
force of habit, or reflexly. In later life this will save much 
effort and brain waste. Hence it is a wise thing for teachers 
in primary grades to demand constant accuracy in speech, 
in spelHng, and in all those things wherein mere memory is at 
stake, or habitual action is demanded. The spinal cord can 
be reHed on for accuracy, if accuracy be required in learning 
and in drill work. To this end spelling, e.g., should be so taught 
as to permit of as few mistakes as possible. It is a safe and 
hygienic rule never to ask a child to spell at a word if we have 
good reason to beheve he will misspell it. Each error made 
signahzes lost ground. But pure drill work, if continued for 
many minutes, will end in aversion, and gains already made will 
be lost. Keen and enhghtened judgment on the part of the 
teacher is the price of prudent drill work. Investigations have 
shown that spelhng ought to be learned incidentally for the most 
part. Much drill is a waste of time. 

The Hygiene of a Daily Program. — The making of a daily 
program of studies offers large opportunities to utilize to the 
best advantage the varying powers of mind during the school 
session. Generally speaking, those children who come to 
school from homes adjusted to the needs of child hfe, who have 
slept ten hours in well-ventilated bedrooms, who have been 
fed with nourishing food, and who have not tired themselves 
by too much home labor are freshest and most receptive 
in the early school hours. It is economy, then, to utilize this 
abundant energy and its characteristic interest on those sub- 
jects which are generally the most difficult to teach. But 
alternation between formal and content studies will also save 
time and brain waste. Obviously, the length of recitation 
periods should vary with the age of the pupils and the subjects 
studied. Much experimental investigation has been made in 
the past quarter century or so, to determine as accurately as 
possible rules to guide in the length of the recitations in the 



Hygiene of Instruction 299 

various grades. It is not possible to get results which ap- 
proximate absolute accuracy, for conditions are compHcated 
and variable. Besides, the personality of the teacher and her 
skill in handhng a subject have much to do with relative 
values in the length of recitation periods. Close attention 
to the subject in hand is essential in all recitations, and, as 
such a condition rather quickly induces fatigue, short periods 
are necessary for primary classes, with rest periods inter- 
vening. For the higher grades the time should vary with the 
subject, the time of day, the previous periods of rest or work, 
and the general mental vigor of the class. Some teachers can 
make a short period count for much, others move slowly. 

Attention is subject to rhythmic fluctuations, and must 
therefore find periods of comparative repose if it is to reach 
at any time beats of strong concentration. In a large class, 
where much unevenness of power is commonly found, it re- 
quires the highest kind of skill to handle a topic so as to bring 
the vital matter of the subject before all minds at the moment 
when attention is at its flood tide, and then to catch the swing 
of it for further assaults. 

Hygiene of Physical Education. — In the work of physical 
education it is unhygienic to cause children to develop out 
of proportion to the demands of normal and usual hving. 
Athletes who have through long- continued training developed 
a lot of muscles not usually needed, or a heart capacity beyond 
the demands of customary Hving, are thereby endangered 
through the onset of natural degeneration when they settle 
into a normal or a probable form of life which makes less 
strenuous demands on the circulation. Physical education 
will fail of its purpose if it does not adjust its efforts to prepar- 
ing the body to do its work without danger of degeneration. 
It is probable that most people could by early and systematic 
training develop the muscles to move their ears. But it 
surely would be a waste of time, and it would also offer op- 
portunity for degeneration as soon as such useless efforts ceased. 



300 School Hygiene 

There is little danger in ordinary training and play, but spe- 
cialized athletics of a more strenuous sort does introduce 
dangers of serious moment. Good teaching in physical educa- 
tion intends to develop those powers of body needed to meet 
successfully the usual and fundamental demands of life. 
Specialization here, especially in early Ufe, with normal chil- 
dren proceeds on the wrong principle. 

Hygiene of the Voice. — The proper use of the speaking 
voice is an accompHshment by no means of minor importance, 
both as to the quahty of tone, and the ease and force with 
which it may deHver the meaning involved. But there is an 
hygienic phase to vocal training of much importance. The 
deHcate tissues of the pharynx are easily fatigued, and sore 
throat and harshness frequently follow a forced and erroneous 
use of the voice. Teachers who have not learned to speak 
with ease and with pure tones suffer much inconvenience, and 
they are sometimes aiBicted with serious throat troubles. 
A child who is taught to speak slowly, distinctly, and with 
pure tone, not only gets a better hearing than one who speaks 
improperly and with an effort, but he Hkewise escapes throat 
troubles which lead to more serious disturbances. That 
teacher who understands how to train the speaking voice, 
in order to get good tone and good easy control, is working 
in the interests of health as well as for power in expression. A 
harsh, raspy voice is a serious handicap socially, spiritually, 
and hygienically. 

SPECIAL TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Is it true that orderly teaching and orderly learning are more 
hygienic than the opposite processes ? Why ? 

2. Which is the more healthful and wholesome life, one spent in 
reading much and doing little, or one spent in little reading and much 
doing ? Why ? 

3. Does the average school curriculum offer a well-balanced hygienic 
program of learning and doing ? 

4. It has been said that spelling is learned just as well incidentally 



Hygiene of Instruction 301 

through reading and writing, without special drill, as with it. Find out 
if this conclusion is warranted. 

5. At what stage in the development of a child can the various sub- 
jects of the elementary curriculum be introduced most economically ? 

6. Work out the proper length of recitation periods for your classes. 

7. How much time shoiild be taken daily for rest or recreation periods 
for each grade, under the conditions of your program ? 

8. Arrange your program, and assign your lessons so that they may 
all be prepared at school, in order to see if home work is really necessary 
for elementary pupils. 

9. At what time of day and under what conchtions can you commit 
to memory most readily ? 

10. What are the special dangers of precocity ? 

11. The physiological age versus the chronological age in the hygiene 
of instruction. 

12. Do the average school programs give a well-balanced sensory 
development? Give good reasons for your answer. 

13. Why do children learn to speak a foreign language more readily 
than adults do ? 

14. How is it that a teacher who speaks easily and distinctly, with a 
pleasant tone, may save her own health, and also, in an indirect way, that 
of her pupils? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bean, C. H. The Curve oj Forgetting. New York, 1912. 45 pp. 

BuRNHAM, W. H. A Contribution to the Hygiene oj Teaching. Peda- 
gogical Seminary, v. ii, pp. 488-497. 

BuRNHAM, W. H. The Hygiene oj Drawing. Pedagogical Seminary, 
v. 14, pp. 289-304. 

BuRNHAM, W. H. Arithmetic and School Hygiene. Pedagogical Semi- 
nary, V. 18, pp. 54-73. Bibliography. 

Dearborn, W. F. The Psychology oj Reading. New York, 1906. 134 pp. 

HuEY, E. B. The Psychology and Pedagogy oj Reading. New York, 
1908. 431 p. 

KuHLMANN, F. A. The Present Status oj the Memory Investigation. 
Psychological Bulletin, v. 5, pp. 285-293. 

Lewis, G. G. Typical School Journeys. London. 140 pp. 

Macmillan, D. p. Report oj the Department oj Child Study, Chicago 
Public Schools, No. 4, pp. 11-16. 

Starch, D. Experiments in Educational Psychology. New York, 191 1. 
183 pp. 

Psychological Clinic. Philadelphia. Monthly. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE CARE OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN 

History of the Movement for the Care of Exceptional Chil- 
dren. — Provision for exceptional children began in the public 
schools of Halle, Saxony, more than fifty years ago. The 
first so-called Hilfsschule (auxihary school) consisted of 
a special class where seventeen backward children were seg- 
regated for a possible two hours of special instruction in 

1859. 

Chemnitz followed with the establishment of her first 
auxiliary class in i860. In 1864 a small book of forty-three 
pages was published by Stotzner, with the title On Schools for 
Children of Deficient Capacity. In this book there was an 
urgent appeal to all authorities of the larger cities of Germany 
for the establishment of auxiliary schools for the special care 
of those who could not profit much from regular school work, 
and who later would become burdensome to the communities. 
Slowly the ideas that Stotzner advocated began to bear fruit, 
and by the beginning of this century quite a number of the 
larger cities had established such schools, or special classes, in 
which these children might find the kind and amount of in- 
struction that they were obviously in need of. In our country, 
to meet similar needs and demands, special classes were formed, 
first in Cleveland in 1878, but the work in these classes had 
to do for the most part with those children who were trouble- 
some to handle from the point of view of discipline. Chicago 
and other cities followed. 

The Influence of Child Study on Provisions for Exceptional 
Children. But during the last twenty years more has been 
found out about children than in the whole of the previous 

302 



The Care, of Exceptional Children 303 

century. As ;i result of these investigations into the mental 
and physical life; of children, it has been found that great varia- 
tions in their endowments exist. The pnjhiem of grading and. 
classification for the s.ikc of the individual, as well ;i,s for tlu; 
sake of those who profit most when working in the social unit 
of a honHjgeneous class, has commanded and r(M;eiv(;d much 
attention. Hence the demand has come to respect the rights 
of those children wlio, from one cause or another, are not able 
to make as ra[)icl i)rogress as the majority. In addition the 
social and educational significance of well-graded classes is 
belter imderstood and more intelligently a[)preciated. 

Problems of Classification. — The one question for discus- 
sion in this chai)ter is, how can we best handle those back- 
ward and retarded child r(;n who, while not up to the standard of 
the averag(! ])ublic school, are y(;t dependent on the public 
schools for their education.'d equi])ment? It is obviously a duty 
to segregate such children, both for the sake of their own |)rog- 
ressand for that of tin; more; fortunate pujjils. Ke])t in a class 
when; [)rogr(;ss is n(;cessa,rily too ra])id for them, or for one rea- 
son or another ( he work is not properly adjusted to their special 
needs, they not only lose confidence in their ability by reason 
of their f.iilures, but they often become hopelessly confused 
and f;i.il of ( lear ;i,p|)rehension of anything. The difficulties 
that teach(,Ts and school administrators have had to meet in 
dealing with them are not only those that arise in the class- 
room, but those which have to do with justice to parents and 
children. A child who does not keep up with his classes is a 
source of friction betwe(;n parents and teachers, between teach- 
ers and j)rinci|)als,an(l often between teachers and school boards. 
The teacher cannot recommend promotion, f(jr the child is 
not ready to profit by the work of the next high(T grade; 
in fact has not j)rofit(;d much by the work he has already under- 
taken. There is a. liniil fo the a,ir)ount of individual help ;i 
teacher can give, for she must not, out of fairness to the major- 
ity, trespass on the time and energy due them. Hence the 



304 School Hygiene 

backward child gets little in the regular classes, and even this 
Httle may not be in Hne with his just needs. 

Special Names for Such Classes. — But parental objection 
has very frequently made it impossible for either the principal 
or superintendent to place the child in separate special classes. 
These classes are subject to names which offend the sensitive- 
ness of parents. School children stigmatize such classes by 
calling them " schools for fools," " dunce schools," or " schools 
for lazy cliildren." Even school authorities have had a hard 
time to find names for them, free from implied humiliation to 
parents, who often have no power to understand the weaknesses 
of their own children. Helping schools, misfit classes, ungraded 
classes, special classes, and many other quasi descriptive titles 
have been devised to forestall such criticisms. None of them 
has been entirely successful, as any school principal or super- 
intendent who has undertaken to meet the needs will testify. 

Problems relating to Such Classes. — Among the problems 
relating to such classes are the following : — 

1 . The need of specially prepared teachers for such children. 

2. Some suggestions on the kind of school opportunities 
such children need. 

I . The Need of specially Prepared Teachers. — It is mani- 
festly neither wise nor diplomatic for a superintendent to under- 
take to segregate all backward children into special classes or 
separate schools until he has first satisfied himself that he can 
furnish them teachers who have had some special training 
that will enable them to deal with such children helpfully. 
Many attempts have been real failures because of this lack of 
foresight. One of the vital problems, then, in connection with 
this work is that of securing well-prepared teachers, who realize 
what these children need, and are given opportunity to work 
unhindered by a program mapped out for normal children. 

Special Knowledge Needed. — But what sort of special 
knowledge should a teacher for such children possess? With- 
out attempting to answer this question with complete satis- 



The Care of Exceptional Children 305 

faction to myself or to the reader, I wish to offer the following 
suggestions for consideration : — 

Training in Abnormal Psychology Needed. — She ought to 
have a thorough training in normal and abnormal psychol- 
ogy. I make this statement, well aware of all that has been 
said pro and con on this question. I know the word psy- 
chology is one that has been on the lips of many teachers 
who have proclaimed its great significance, and who at the 
same time knew really nothing about it save textbook talk. 
This is not what I mean by training in psychology, for such 
in reaUty is training in books about psychology. To be 
thrown into the midst of a group of normal or subnormal 
children without some theories to guide one in the study of 
their mental powers and bodily infirmities would be of course 
unscientific and wasteful. And to enter a schoolroom with 
a completed scheme of mental Hfe results usually in a disas- 
trous attempt to make children conform to such a scheme. 
I mean, then, by a thorough training in psychology, a thorough 
training in the honest observation and analysis of mental and 
physical life as it actually exhibits itself in normal or subnormal 
children. Much classification at first will inevitably deprive 
the observer of power to see the truth, but classification is 
necessary. It ought to come, however, as the result of a 
desire to understand a real situation, guided but not hindered 
by the best classifications others have made of comparable 
phenomena. If an intelHgent interpretation of individual 
mental life is necessary for the teacher of normal children, 
it is doubly so for those who train defective classes. Here the 
teacher counts for more, or at least is more essential to the 
progress of the child. Normal children learn much from mere 
hints and suggestions ; backward children must have oft- 
repeated stimulus and guidance. The physical machinery of 
normal children runs smoothly or at least it offers little hin- 
drance to mental progress ; the backward child is nearly always 
handicapped by some functional disturbance. The psychology 



3o6 School Hygiene 

of the subnormal is more intimately associated with the physi- 
ological, or at least is more obviously so related, than that of 
the normal child. Not only then must new methods of in- 
struction be devised to meet the requirements of these childreji, 
but a new emphasis must be placed on the adjustment of body 
and mind. The fundamental instincts are here, as it were, 
segregated from those discriminating associations which nor- 
mal mental life makes use of, and which often attract most 
attention in ordinary treatises on psychology. 

Physical Impediments. — One who would understand the de- 
fective must learn at the outset what physical impedimenta are 
operative, antl how these conditions can be ameliorated. The 
inability to sec clearly and quickly may produce retardation. 
Imperfect hearing may, and often does, result in abnormal 
emotional response to all social situations. Adenoids may not 
only act as a primary cause for dwarhng various organs of 
the body, but may serve indirectly to produce general ima^mia 
and physical weidcness, and such conditions are not conducive 
to mental aptitude. Feeble circulation not only calls for 
special exercise, special clothing, and special care of the skin, 
but likewise foretells difficulties in attention, slowness in 
perception, lack of interest and general dullness in response 
to the appeals of educative agencies. 

Diseased and fragile teeth may be either a cause or a product 
of poor nourishment, and poor nourishment, especially for 
the less active minds, quickly makes its presence known in 
weakened mental response. Furthermore, for one reason 
or another, the central nervous system may be dwarfed and 
stunted so that the more fundamental activities, relatively 
speaking, exist in undue proportion to those accessory powers 
active in higher mental response. Plainly, such children need 
to use what talents they have as the basis of their educational 
work, and only indirectly and incidentally should they be 
called on to undertake the intricate and minute affairs of mental 
life expected of tiie more highly endowed children. 



The Care of Exceptional Children 307 

The Need of Scientific Training. — A teacher for such chil- 
dren ought to be trained in methods of scientific mental 
measurements, and have the power to sec the signiiicance of 
such facts when once obtained. I cannot, for example, be- 
lieve a teacher capable of handling understandingly such chil- 
dren if she does not know how to api)ly such tests as are fur- 
nished by the Binet-Simon scale, and of really seeing why these 
tests approximately measure the mental capacities of most 
children. While, on the whole, they are very simple, yet 
in general they seek for the central axis of mental life, and 
lay bare before a penetrating mind the fundamentals of psychic 
growth. 

It is a simple thing to ask a child to tell the difference, for 
instance, between paper and cloth, but it is not so simple a 
thing to see by his answer that he has or has not the power to 
handle general notions and to express himself in abstract 
terms. It is an equally simple task to request a child to rear- 
range a rectangular card that has been cut diagonally into two 
triangles, but it requires a trained mind to understand what 
sort of mental processes a child must pass through before he 
can quickly and correctly execute the demand, and why he, 
in general, must be approximately live years old before he 
can do it easily and readily. The whole problem of the level 
of normality for any given age demands for its solution more 
than textbook information, and more than simple observa- 
tion. 

A New Sort of Treatment Required. — But interpretation 
and insight are only parts of the proljlem. Having found that 
the psychic life of a child is below the level of the normal 
child of the same age, the next, and perhaps a more serious, 
problem is to know what is best to do, or what really can be 
done, for his betterment. Here a new kind of pedagogics 
must be wrought out. We yet know only the barest outlines 
of it. Why is it, for example, that many defective children 
show unexpected talent and interest in music? An adequate 



3o8 " School Hygiene 

answer to this question must come from the larger genetic 
field. If we ask in what way and to what extent we can 
induce and accelerate growth through music, a still more 
complex situation meets us. 

2. Problems of Organization and Methods of Teaching. 
— The next suggestion has to do with organization and ad- 
ministrative methods. How can our schools be organized 
to give relief to those children who, while not idiots, are still 
very slow in their development, many of whom give no hope 
for attaining any high degree of culture? 

Ungraded Classes. — The so-called ungraded class for mis- 
fits has been one of the most generally used devices in our 
school organization to meet the needs of those who for one 
reason or another have been retarded, or for those who are 
able to make more rapid progress than the regular classes. 
The management of tliis class has usually fallen to the lot 
of a teacher selected from the regular corps, and the kind of 
work undertaken has depended, from week to week, on the 
needs of the children as indicated by the teachers from whom 
they came, and the demands of the grades the cliildren are 
supposed to make. The work in these classes has, of necessity, 
been largely individual. The teacher may concentrate her 
efforts for one child to bring it up in arithmetic or grammar ; 
for another she may give special attention to reading, geog- 
raphy, spelling, etc. ; for still another her aim will be to 
awaken a real interest in school work through some unusual 
appeal. To those who merely need opportunity and general 
supervision, in order to gain time, she assigns larger tasks and 
sees that these are done thoroughly and with clear under- 
standing. 

A child may be dropped into such a class for a week, a month, 
or for no specified time, and it is expected that he will be 
transferred to a regular class as soon as, in the judgment of the 
teacher and principal, he can do better work with the stimulus 
of a class than when working as an individual. 



The Care of Exceptional Children 309 

The Difficulties with Ungraded Classes. Such ungraded 
classes have h(;lpe(J many normal chi]<lren who have either 
fallen behind or have shown that they are being held back by 
regular class work. But there has not come a great amount 
of help for those who, while not really feeble-minded, make 
slow and uncertain progress. There are several reasons why the 
ungraded class as here described will never meet the real needs 
of those whose minds are slow to perceive and still slower to 
appreciate the real meanings involved. For the most part, 
the methods of instruction used in such ungraded classes are 
too nearly patterned afU-r those used in the regular classes. 
These retarded children need and demand a more natural 
education than teachers are ijrei)ared to give, or, for that matter, 
than the regular schools are equipped to give. The awakening 
and cjuickening of such minds must come through a real 
rationalizing experience. School life must be fashioned after the 
highest kind of real life into which such children are capable 
of entering. 

Ungraded classes, in the sense I have used this term, have 
not been able properly to care for those children who are de- 
fective or feebly endowed. They need a different program 
and different conditions. This leads me to the next develop- 
ment in public school administration looking toward help for 
these children. 

The Need of Open-air Schools. — Open-air schools, which 
arc more fully discussed in C'li;i,]>t.(;r Xlf, originaterJ in the move- 
ment to provide; durirjg vacation for tuberculous and scrofulous 
children. These schools were at first vacation camps or 
forest schools, where the r:hief emphasis was placed on the 
improvement of the heaJtii of the children. Fresh air, free 
play, and nutritious food were at first the chief desiderata. 
Gradually some instruction in nature study, gardening, and 
drawing were introduced. Finally, it became evident that, 
under such conditions, sluggish children exhibited marked im- 
provement. This has led to what are now more properly 



3IO School Hygiene 

called open-air schools for defectives. This movement is just 
beginning to take hold of our people, and there is now scarcely 
a day passing in which calls from some part of our country 
do not come for information concerning open-air schools. 
With too many it is attractive simply because it is something 
new. Others are seeking in a serious way for guidance. Here, 
as in the ungraded classes, proper classification and organiza- 
tion of work for subnormal children is still in a chaotic condi- 
tion. 

Special Buildings for Subnormal Classes. — I am persuaded 
that before any progress of a fundamental sort can be made, 
special buildings for subnormals must be constructed in the 
cities, and real segregation made mandatory. Before this can 
be done in any effective way, parents must be made to see 
that, while it may be distasteful for them to see their children 
placed in special classes, they can be better cared for there 
than elsewhere. Then, too, they must be made to understand 
that any school system is properly organized only when each 
child is so conditioned as to offer no hindrance to others, and 
at the same time to get what he himself is most in need of. 
We must organize and teach our schools so as to give to the 
great majority of normal children all the time and attention 
they need. Furthermore, it is essential that superintendents 
give better care to our brighter children than to the dullards. 
Any organization which will tend to hinder the rapid but 
normal progress of the brighter children is more at fault than 
one which does not give special help to the weaker pupils. 
The only way, then, is, as I have suggested, real segregation. 
How can this be done, with justice to all? The only way 
open, so far as I can see, is through expert psychological ex- 
amination of the children. I have called attention to the 
Binet-Simon tests. These at present, with Dr. Goddard's 
modifications, seem to afford the best general mental yard- 
stick which we now have at command. However, the general 
problem of mental measurement is now the central problem 



The Care of Exceptional Children 311 

of educational psychologists, and teachers for subnormal chil- 
dren ought to be in the thick of it. By and by we shall have 
more psychological clinics, and shall be able to measure men- 
tal life more satisfactorily, and have fuller knowledge of the 
conditions ojjcrating to hinder progress or to accelerate it. 

TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 

1. In what ways cai) (lu; |>iil)li(; s<;li<>ol Icachcr organize her instruc- 
tion so as to give some in<]ivi(Jual lielj), eaeh day, to those who are able 
to make more rapid progress than class instruction affords, and also to 
those who proceed more slowly than the class ? 

2. Study carefully the Binet-Simon method of testing children's natu- 
ral ability. Make out, if possible, the fundamental reasons for each test 
proposed. 

3. In what ways can you adapt tlie regular scIkjoI curriculum so as to 
get better results for both the unusually ca{)able child and the backward 
child ? 

4. Study carefully the physical development, well-being, and history 
of each backward child, in order to determine, as far as possible, wheLher 
the mental defect is due to inheritance, delayed development, or is the 
result of physic:al defect due to disease or accident. 

5. Note in each case the particular weakness (jr defects exhibited, 
and devise methods to correct such defects. Knowing just what is 
needed is a necessary preparation for knowing what to do. 

6. Make a study of the method of treatment of subnormal children in 
special schools for defectives. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Ayers, L. P, The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence. Psy- 
chological Clinic, Nov. 15, 191 1, v. ,5, pj). 187-196. 

Barr, M. W. Menial Dcfcclives. Philadcljjhia, kjio. 36.S j)|)., illus. 

iiRKCKiNi<fiK;K, S., and Abbott, E. 'J'he Ddinquml Child and l/ic Home. 
New Y(jrk, 191 2. 355 pp. 

Dawson, G. V). A Characterization of the Prevailing Defects in Back- 
ward Children. Pedagogical Seminary, v. 16, pp. 429-436. 

Fernald, W. 10. Importance of the Early Discovery and Treatment of 
Defectives in Special l^uhllc School Classes. Teacher, December, 
1906, v. 10, pp. 291-299. 



312 School Hygiene 

GODDARD, H. H. Tleredily mid Feeble-mindedness. Am. Breeders' 

Magazine, 1910, v. i, pp. 165-178. 
GoDDARD, H. H. Two Thousand Children tested by the Binet-Simon 

Measuring Scale Jor Intelligence. Proc. N. E. A., 191 1, pp. 870- 

878. Also Pedagogical Seminary, v. 18, pp. 232-259. 
HuEY, E. B. Backward and Feeble-minded Children. Baltimore, 1912, 

221 pp., illus. 
Love, J. K. The Deaf Child. (See Chaps. 2, 4.) London, 191 1. 

192 pp. 
Maknnel, B. Auxiliary Schools. U. S. Bureau of Education, 1907. 

137 PI>- 

Van Sickle, Witmer, and Ayres. Provision for Exceptional Children 
in Public Schools. U. S. Bureau of Education, 191 1. 92 pp. 

Wallin, J. E. W. A Practical Guide Jor the Adminislration of the Binct- 
Simon Scale Jor measuring Intelligence. Psychological Clinic, De- 
cember, 1911, V. 5, pp. 217-238. 



CHAPTER XXII 
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN i 

Ideals of Proper Education. — The right sort of education 
enables a man to adjust himself, body and soul, with the least 
possible friction and for the greatest possible worthy service 
to any environment or circumstance in which he may find 
himself. While the aim of pubHc education is most highly 
commendable, it is to be regretted that the mind has frequently 
been wrought upon at the expense of the body. Scientific 
investigations have proved beyond question the essential 
unity of mind and body. " Good health is at the bottom of all 
things good. The birth of wit is in good digestion ; hope 
springs from a healthy circulation ; and out of strong nerves 
comes success." Any system of education which graduates 
boys and girls physically unfit to perform the duties of life 
has, through its process, failed in its main purpose. 

The Schools and Disease. — ^The unnatural hfe of the school- 
room affords excellent opportunity for the contraction and 
spread of disease. Most schoolrooms are crowded ; many are 
poorly ventilated, lighted, and heated. Desks are unsuitable, 
forcing children to sit in cramped and unnatural positions. 
Children are forced to sit still when nature intended them to 
be running about. The children in an ordinary public school 
represent all classes and conditions of homes. Many are 
totally ignorant concerning the necessity and beauty of personal 
cleanhness. Especially in the lower grades, children are care- 
less about coughing, sneezing, and expectorating — often ex- 
pelling infective matter from the throat and nose. It is only 

1 The author has been aided in the preparation of this chapter by Mrs. Cora 
Sutton Castle, M.A. 



314 



School Hygiene 



recently that drinking fountains have been devised to dis- 
place the custom of fifty children using one cup. When we 
consider how careless most young children are concerning nasal 
and mouth discharges, we see the excellent opportunity for 
the transmission of germs when the same plaything and tools 
are used, as is the case to a large extent, in the primary grades. 
Children are confined in a schoolroom for five or six hours a 
day when much of that time should normally be spent in play. 




Fig. 49. 



A typical case of adenoids, i , before removal ; 2, after removal. (Courtesy 
of Cleveland Board of Education.) 



Children are, moreover, susceptible to many diseases, and the 
schoolroom is preeminently a place, where disease germs have 
an opportunity to develop. To protect children from the 
dangers that in the nature of school fife must be associated 
with it, it is necessary that every school should have a well- 
organized system of medical inspection. 

Dr. G. W. Johnston says, " Wherever investigations have 
been made on a large scale, three things have been revealed : 

"i. A surprising amount of ill health among school children, 
60 per cent being defective to a greater or less degree. 



Medical Inspection of School Children 315 

"2. Though varying in degree from slight functional dis- 
turbances to actual illness, the same morbid conditions were 
found wherever and whenever investigations were made. 

"3. The percentage of morbidity increased from grade to 
grade." ^ 

Diseases of School Children. — Of all the diseases which 
make up the sum total of ill health among school children, 
defective vision and diseased teeth (see Chaps. XV and XVII) 
are the most common. 

Adenoids. — Next to be considered, on account of frequency, 
are affections of the nose and throat. Dr. L. Emmett Holt, 
in his Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, says, " Adenoids 
are the source of more discomfort and the origin of more minor 
ailments than almost any other pathological condition of 
childhood." They occur most frequently in damp, changeable 
climates. Their first symptoms often follow an attack of 
measles, scarlet fever, or diphtheria. Rachitic children are 
oftener affected than others. Repeated head colds are more 
often a result than a cause of adenoids. They are most fre- 
quently associated with the constitutional condition known as 
status lympkaticus (swelHng and increase of tissue in the 
lymph glands). Heredity has a marked influence. The 
pharynx, or throat proper, of a normal child is a delicate, 
moist pink with the tonsils just large enough to be seen, and 
the secretion sufficient to maintain the proper amount of mois- 
ture. The membranes are very sensitive to irritation. In 
the case of an abnormal throat, there is much discharge, often 
not noticed because it is swallowed ; and the tissues in the 
vault of the pharynx may increase so as to close the passage 
through the nose. Some of the most important symptoms of 
adenoids are a nasal voice, with inability to sound the con- 
sonants m and n, b and d ; difficult breathing, especially when 
lying on the back, and at night, often amounting almost to 
asphyxia. This is probably the explanation of many of the 

1 North American Review, v. 1S2, pp. 829-839. 



3i6 



Sc/iool Hygiene 



night terrors from wliich children suffer. Bloch lays great 
stress upon the association of mouth breathing with stuttering. 
" When the mouth breathing has persisted for a long time, cer- 
tain changes are seen in the face, mouth, and chest. The 




Fig. so. — A, showing the location of adenoids. 

expression is dull, hea\y, and apathetic, due, in part, to the 
mouth being left continually open. The child becomes stupid 
looking, responds slowly to questions, and may be sullen and 
cross. The lips are thin, the nasal orifices small and pinched-in 
looking, the superior dental arch is narrowed, and the roof of 
the mouth is considerably raised. There is a marked change 



Medical Inspection of School Children 317 

in the shape oi the chest, the 'i)ige(jn breast' being the most 
common deformity." ^ In a large i>ro[K>rtion of cases the hearing 
is impaired. This is due to the inflammation being extended 
along the eustacliian tubes, the obstruction with mucus, or the 
closing of the orifices by pressure of the adenoids. Naturally, 
the senses of taste and smell are much afl'ected ; the breath is 
fetid. The general health is often imi)aired from loss of sleep 
and insufiicient oxygen because of difficult breathing and 
confinement to the house on account oi frequent colds and 
catarrh. There is often a marked anaemia. In severe cases 
of long standing children may be stunted in growth. Head- 
aches are frer^uent ; it is impossible to fix the attention for 
any length (jf time ; forgetfulness, languf>r, depression, in- 
ability to study without discomfort, -— these with j)artial 
deafness cause children, with adenoids to be marked as some- 
what mentally deficient. 

Enlarged tonsils frequently accompany adenoids. They 
obstruct respiration, result in partial deafness, and being ex- 
posed to infections from the mouth and nose, they offer op- 
portunities for the development of the germs of diphtheria and 
scarlet fever. 

These symptoms do not all occur at one time. The growths 
may be small, and the symptoms not sufficiently alarming to 
cause parents to detect the trouble, or consult a physician. A 
medical inspector would understand the situation at once, and 
advise treatment or removal of the obstructing tissue. 

A Case showing Effects of Adenoids. — The following his- 
tory of a case of adenoid growth retarding a child's progress 
in school is worthy of careful consideration. The child in 
question is one in a family of four children of wh(jm all except 
him were bright and intelligent. This child was a strong and 
well-grown boy for his age, but was apparently of a sluggish 
and stolid disposition. He was removed from the first grade 
as too immature to do the work, and from that time to his 

' Osier's Principles and Practice of Medicine. 



3i8 School Hygiene 

eleventh year he never made a single grade legitimately; he 
was usually promoted on trial, and then dragged along at the 
foot of liis class. All together, he had lost two years by the 
time he reached the fifth grade ; but he had completed the 
work of the fourth grade in so unsatisfactory a fashion that he 
was required to repeat a term's work in that grade. The 
complaint of the teachers was that the boy seemed immature, 
that he was unable to give attention, that he was dreamy and 
could not keep his mind on his work. Outside of school, the 
boy's behavior was about the same. He was slow and heavy 
in his movements, and though gifted with an unusually strong 
body, he did not play with the usual zest and activity of boys 
of his age. He had no initiative, but followed the lead of his 
companions. His parents were certain that the boy was not 
lacking in intellect, however, because his memory was good, 
and he showed no lack of ordinary intelhgence, except his 
slowness of comprehension. 

When the boy was eleven and a half years old his parents 
took him to a speciaHst for treatment. For the past five years 
he had had difficulty in breathing; he slept with his mouth 
open, and breathed through his mouth in the daytime except 
when corrected, and then his breathing through his nose was 
labored and painful. He had been treated variously for colds 
and catarrh, but nothing had helped him. 

The speciahst examined the boy and found an adenoid growth 
in his throat, just back of the nose, which obstructed his 
breathing. This was removed and found to be as large as a 
walnut. The boy was treated for some time and pronounced 
cured. 

His parents, in hope that he might regain the place in school 
which he would have held had he gone straight ahead, secured 
for the boy a private teacher, who had known him a long time. 
An almost immediate change was observed in his powers of 
concentration ; he showed that he could give attention and 
learn readily the assignments made to the class. He was put 



Medical Inspection of School Children 319 

into the low fifth grade on trial when the spring term opened, 
and in a month or two was sent into the high fifth on trial. 
He managed to get along, and his teacher reported an improve- 
ment in his work. For about half an hour a day he was taught 
privately, and his coach declares a great difference in his 
capacity for giving attention and understanding. The boy 
has changed also in his manner out of school. He gets much 
more out of life ; he plays better, he takes the initiative. He 
has more interests. 

Kirchener compiled a table based on statistics gathered in 
Prussia, which shows that from the fifth to the fifteenth year 
there is a rapid increase in the percentage of deaths from tuber- 
culosis. Examination of school children by a competent physi- 
cian, and, in addition, famiharity with home conditions in 
suspected cases (this can be ascertained by the school nurse), 
can do a great deal towards checking the spread of this fatal 
disease. 

Overwork and Worry. — The supervision of a competent 
physician is necessary to discover cases of overwork and worry 
among the pupils. Children who ought to be under medical 
treatment, and perhaps in a sanitarium, are often kept at 
school because of the ignorance of parents and the ambition 
of the pupils. Inattention, lack of power of concentration, 
jerking and twitching, supersensitiveness, and restlessness 
are nature's warning before the nervous system collapses. 
A trained eye understands those symptoms, and is quahfied to 
suggest the proverbial " stitch in time "; whereas parents, and 
even teachers, sometimes regard them as evidences of careless- 
ness or naughtiness, and fail to interpret their significance until 
they see the unmistakable signs of chorea (St. Vitus's dance), 
epilepsy, or insanity. (See "Fatigue," Chap. XIX.) 

Other important diseases frequently met with among 
school children are hip disease ; chlorosis, or green sickness, 
in girls ; certain lesions of the heart and lungs ; obesity ; 
rickets ; and occasionally arthritis deformans (an enlargement 



320 School Hygiene 

and deformity of the joints) , commonly mistaken for rheuma- 
tism. 

Deformities. — Deformities may be so obvious that there 
can be no mistaking the condition, or they may be so slight a 
deviation from the normal as to escape notice except by careful 
examination. They fall under two heads : i. Congenital — 
such as harelip, cleft palate, clubfoot, supernumerary toes and 
fingers, webfeet, and congenital dislocation of the hip. 2. 
Acquired deformities — as flat foot, frequently resulting 
from rickets ; bowlegs and knock-knees, often due to the same 
cause ; and hernia. Many of these are capable of rectifica- 
tion during the plastic years of childhood. Early treatment 
may effect a complete cure, or, at least, make the deformed 
parts of less hindrance to future activity. 

Malnutrition. — There is no condition which calls for the 
constant supervision and advice of a competent physician 
more than that known as malnutrition or improper nourish- 
ment. It depends as often upon improper as upon insufficient 
food. Rich and poor may suffer equally ; the one from over- 
feeding and improper feeding, the other from lack of food. It 
is perhaps the most difficult condition to deal with, as it in- 
volves to such a large extent conditions in the home from 
which the child comes. In these cases, the school nurse is 
particularly helpful. While the duty of the medical inspector 
is merely to detect the disease, notify parents, and advise 
treatment, the nurse can accompany the child to its home, 
give friendly and helpful instructions regarding diet, exercise, 
clothing, sleep, bathing, overexertion, and general hygiene. 

Contagious Diseases. — The most common contagious 
diseases to which children are susceptible are parasitic dis- 
eases of the head, mumps, measles, whooping cough, conta- 
gious eye diseases, chicken pox, scarlet fever, and diphtheria. 
The last two are the most serious. If medical inspection of 
schools bore no good fruit except in controlling epidemics, 
money and time would be well spent. Where there is no 



Medical Inspection of School Children 321 

inspection of schools, children come for days from homes 
where contagious diseases exist. They may not be ill, but 
they transmit the germs in their clothing or their books. It 
often happens that children attend school when actually 
suffering from a contagious disease, the mild form not being 
recognized by inexperienced eyes. But a mild form in one 
child may produce a severe form in another. Frequently, 
children reenter school after a siege of contagious illness, or 
come from homes that have been under quarantine, without 
having been properly examined as to the danger of trans- 
mitting the disease to others. 

This could not happen in a school under the supervision of a 
competent physician. Children from homes where contagion 
is suspected would be carefully examined and excluded until 
it was proved that there could be no danger conveyed to the 
school through such pupils. Mild cases of disease would be 
detected in the routine examination, and immediately ex- 
cluded, and the necessary measures of disinfection taken. 
No child who had suffered from a contagious disease would 
be allowed to reenter school until cultures or other examina- 
tions showed him to be free from the germs of the disease. 
The value of medical inspection in the case of contagious 
diseases cannot be overestimated. 

General Sanitation. — One other important work calls for 
the supervision of a competent medical man ; viz. the 
discovery and correction of insanitary conditions which too 
often are neglected until irreparable harm is done. Many 
cases of defective eyes are due to improperly Ughted school- 
houses. Poor systems of heating and ventilation are respon- 
sible for cases of weak lungs and a very large percentage of 
anaemia. The improper control of dust from floors and black- 
boards causes or, at least, aggravates catarrh. Malaria and 
rheumatism often result indirectly from bad drainage, imper- 
fect plumbing, dark basements, ill-kept closets, and other 
unhygienic conditions. 



322 School Hygiene 

The advice of the school physician is of value to the super- 
intendent and teachers in regard to the grading of pupils, 
home study, recess periods, exercises tending to correct abnor- 
malities, athletics, and playgrounds. 

To summarize — a system of medical inspection of schools 
should be established in every community. 

I. As a measure of prevention. An intelligent physician 
will recognize evidences of disease, and the causes thereof. 
It is much easier to check diseases at the beginning than after 
they have become well developed. Prevention is superior to 
cure. 

II. As a matter of economy, (a) There would be a saving 
of time on the part of pupils, parents, and teachers — time 
otherwise lost by sickness, {b) Children kept healthy, the 
process of instruction would be more rapid and effectual. 

III. Curative benehts would follow medical inspection of 
schools. Incipient diseases would be discovered, and those 
not far advanced would be checked and cured. 

IV. Medical supervision will do much toward solving the 
problems of school government. If children are vigorous and 
well, there will be less mental dullness, fulling beliind in grades, 
dislike of school routine, and truancy. 

V. Medical inspection would be a valuable means of educat- 
ing the public. It would ultimately make the common laws 
of health universal ; it would tend to make men and women 
study their environment, and the influences affecting it; it 
would teach them to lead purer and better hves, and put the 
emphasis on keeping well. 

The subject of medical inspection of schools is not a new 
one. In Paris, as early as 1833, there was an attempt by law to 
see that schoolhouses were kept clean. In 1842 it was ordered 
that, " All public schools should be visited by a physician, 
who, in addition to inspecting the buildings, should also in- 
spect the general health of the children." As late as 1879 
these physicians were not paid. The present system of in- 



Medical Inspection oj School Children 323 

spection in France dates from 1884. The school physician is 
appointed for a term of three years with an annual salary of 
800 francs. Each doctor has from fifteen to twenty school- 
rooms which he must visit twice a month. In addition to the 
examination of children recommended to him by the teachers, 
he takes the names of pupils absent on account of illness. A 
certificate of recovery from the attending physician is required 
before such children can reenter school. He also inspects the 
school premises with an eye to cleanliness, heat, light, and 
ventilation. Once a month he examines each child's eyes, ears, 
and teeth. If these are found defective, the parents are 
notified, and treatment recommended. In addition to the 
thorough system of medical inspection instituted in Paris, the 
municipal authorities provide beneficently for the needy 
sick and poor children. Glasses are furnished when necessary; 
midday meals are supplied to the children free or at cost; 
shoes and clothing are supplied when needed ; homes are main- 
tained in the country, and at the seaside for weak, debilitated, 
and sick children; medical attendance is furnished when 
necessary. Paris has learned what all educators must sooner 
or later come to see, that it is folly to try to instruct children 
when they are cold, or hungry, or sick. 

The little country of Switzerland has a fully organized sys- 
tem of medical inspection. Mr. A. J. Pressland, one of the 
Masters of Edinburgh Academy, in his evidence before the 
Royal Commission on Physical Training (Scotland), gave 
details both of the system of physical training prevailing in the 
Swiss schools, and of the system of medical inspection, I 
quote from his report : " Medical examination of children and 
inspection of school buildings are instituted by the Cabinet. 
These have been for a long time systematically carried out in 
Zurich by the Central School Board. The Council of Educa- 
tion issues by-laws as to buildings and inspection by the 
Board of Health. Permission to occupy new schoolhouses 
must be obtained from the latter. The medical examination 



324 School Hygiene 

of children is prescribed on their first arrival at school. A 
child mentally deficient may be referred to a special class or a 
special institution. A child insufficiently developed may be 
sent to a kindergarten, or transferred to the list of the suc- 
ceeding year. The authorities have power to order a re- 
examination of any school at any time. The examination may 
apply to buildings as well as to pupils. The Central School 
Board of Zurich has instituted reexaminations, as regards 
sight and hearing, for a number of years. Lately, it has 
ordered an inspection of teeth at the age of twelve. The 
advocates of these examinations wish to insure a proper at- 
tention to eyesight and hearing at the age of six; to eye- 
sight at the age of twelve when the eye begins to grow fast ; 
to the heart at the same age for the same reason ; and to the 
teeth at twelve, since at this age decay makes rapid progress. 

"The report for 1901 of the Central School Board shows that 
at the age of twelve each pupil has on an average three to 
four decayed teeth. To overcome the difficulty with teeth, 
the Board advises : — 

"I. The issue of a pamphlet on the care of teeth to every 
pupil entering the school. This pamphlet the pupil gives to 
his parents. 

"II. Occasional reference to the necessity for care of the 
teeth by the teacher during class hours. 

"III. The grant of medical assistance to poor parents." 

Berlin, a representative city of a country that has done much 
toward providing for its defective children by maintaining 
Hilfsschulen, or Auxiliary Schools, has a satisfactory system 
of medical inspection. The duties of the school physician are : 

I. The examination of children as to their state of health 
before they enter school. 

II. In cases of bodily or mental abnormalities, he may 
recommend the adoption of special instruction. 

III. He must look after children who are absent from school 
without sufficient reasons. 



Medical Inspection of School Children 325 

IV. He is to advise the headmaster in cases of infectious 
diseases. 

V. He is to notify the School Board when he finds the health 
of the children unfavorably affected by the unhygienic condi- 
tions of a school. 

VI. He is to be present at a certain hour at the school 
twice a month so that the master may obtain his advice in 
individual cases. 

VII. All medical officers of schools must meet regularly 
under the presidency of a member of the School Board to dis- 
cuss matters relative to the hygienic conditions of schools. 

VIII. The school physician has control of the classrooms 
without reference to the hours of instruction. 

These duties are complex, and it requires tact to avoid friction 
with teachers and family physicians ; but in charge of competent 
men, the system has been pronounced successful wherever tried. 

"In England, the school boards generally provide for medical attendance 
on their teachers and pupU teachers, for the regular visiting of their 
schools, for the dovetailing of medical school inspections with the regular 
work of the public health organizations, and, generally, for the discovery 
of infection among school children, and the prevention of infection by 
detailed periodic examinations of school premises. In many pubhc 
schools, more especially where a boarding system is in force, medical 
inspection has gone much further. Such schools retain the services of 
a medical officer whose duty it is to examine all pupils admitted, to ascer- 
tain their fitness both for the mental work of the school and for the phys- 
ical training required, to attend any cases of illness that may arise, to 
arrange for the isolation of infectious diseases either within premises 
provided by the school or in the hospitals of the local authorities, and to 
report, from time to time, to the governors any circiunstances that may 
imperil the hygienic safety of the children. In the industrial schools, 
too, which are under control of the Home Office, the managers appoint a 
medical officer whose duty it is to attend any cases of sickness, and to 
exercise a general supervision over the health of the school children. 
In many other schools, even where medical practitioners are not retained, 
it has become the custom systematically to measure, weigh, and examine 
all the pupils admitted, and from time to time, all pupils in attendance." ^ 

1 McKenzie, The Medical Inspection of School Children. 



326 ' School Hygiene 

Other foreign countries, including Japan, Egypt, and Nor- 
way, have more or less completely developed systems of medi- 
cal inspection. Brussels and other Belgian cities have excel- 
lent systems. In the Httle town of Vercelli, Italy (population 
25,000), the city government provides free meals for pupils 
attending the public schools. Every child must attend school 
and partake of these meals unless he shows a physician's 
certificate stating the prescribed diet would be injurious. 
Medical inspection is also compulsory, and is accompanied by 
free medical attendance. 

In our own country, Boston was the first city to develop a 
system of medical inspection. It went into operation in the 
fall of 1894. Other towns in Massachusetts adopted the idea, 
pubhc sentiment became strong in its favor; so, in 1906, the 
bill requiring the appointment of school physicians in each 
town and city, and making annual examination of all the 
children compulsory, passed the Legislature with little opposi- 
tion. In Boston, the Board of Health appoints the school 
physicians and directs their work. These men are paid from 
the pubhc health appropriation. In some towns in Massa- 
chusetts the work is under direction of the school committee. 
The bill outlines the aim of medical inspection as : 

I. To discover infectious diseases. 

II. To ascertain whether the child is suffering from defec- 
tive sight or hearing, or from any other disabihty or defect 
tending to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school 
work, or requiring a modification of the school work in order 
to prevent injury to the child or to secure the best educational 
result (Act of 1906, Ch. 502, Sect. 5). 

In order to give some specific notions of what typical cities 
in various parts of our country are now doing in the way of 
medical inspection, the following excerpts are taken from the 
reports of the superintendents of the cities mentioned : — 

Birmingham, Ala. — "Whenever a case of contagious disease makes its 
appearance in the school, all pupils in that family, or all who have been 



Medical Inspection of School Children 327 

exposed, are withdrawn from school in accordance with the schedule 
prepared by the board of health. The health department promptly 
reports to the office each case as it appears . . . and the principal of the 
school is at once notified. Usually the principal has discovered the case 
and taken action prior to the receipt of the official notification. . . . The 
medical inspector gives no treatment. By a card system the parents are 
advised, through the principal, to consxilt their family physician or a 
specialist. If unable to consult a specialist, they are advised to take 
their children to the Hillman Hospital and Dispensary for free examina- 
tion and treatment. The board employs trained nurses to visit homes 
and secure the treatment many parents neglect. 

"During the first week of the school year, thorough inspection is made 
under the joint direction of city health officer and medical inspector, 
to discover every case of contagious disease. The health officer notifies 
the principal of each school of all cases of contagion in his district, and 
the medical inspector reports to the health officer all exclusions for such 
diseases. Each teacher records, on individual observation cards, aU 
abnormal children, or those who seem so to her. The cards are preserved 
by the principal until the next visit of the medical inspector, who examines 
the pupils thus suspected." 

Cincinnati, Ohio. — "The medical inspection of schools is conducted 
by the board of health, who instituted it on Jan. i, 1907. The district 
physicians serve as inspectors. All pupils whom the principal or teacher 
considers in need of medical attention are referred to these inspectors. 
The recommendations of the inspectors are carried out by the principal, 
who notifies parents or guardians and excludes from school when directed. 
When home treatment is not given according to suggestions, the school 
nurse follows up the case and secures home cooperation. A daily notice 
is sent to each school by the board of health giving information concerning 
aU the children of the city who are excluded for contagious diseases, 
and also a list of those who are permitted to return. There are twenty- 
five medical inspectors and five nurses. ... In at least 25 per cent of 
the cases visited by the nurses the cooperation of the home has been 
secured. . . . The system has now been extended to include the paro- 
chial schools of the city. The Odontological Society . . . has ... a 
free dental cHnic in the school building on Ninth Street, where two 
dentists are at work from 8.30 until 5.30 each day. Those children recom- 
mended for free treatment by the school principals receive attention 
here. This work is done with the approval of the board of health and 
the board of education." 

Cleveland, Ohio. — "The department of health, through its ward physi- 
cians, protects the schools from infectious diseases. During the year 



328 School Hygiene 

1908, these physicians made 16,225 visits to the schools, examined 51,147 
children, temporarily excluded 1798 . . . and treated 6716 cases of 
commimicable ailments. In addition, under the general direction of the 
school physicians, there have been located in schools in those districts 
where the foreign element is located, six school dispensaries, five . . . being 
established in 1909. From these dispensaries medicine is distributed 
free on the recommendation of the school physician, or at a nominal 
cost. . . . School nurses . . . visit homes, accompany parents to spe- 
cialists, and to the clinic." 

Detroit, Mich. — "Every school is visited daily by a medical inspector. 
... All pupils who have sore throats, severe colds, headaches, fever, 
rash ... or any symptom of disease, are carefuUy examined. If . . . 
suspected of having a communicable disease or ... is physically unfit 
to remain in school, the pupil is immediately sent home with a recommen- 
dation that his parents consult the family physician. In schools in the 
more congested districts clinics are held at which the medical inspectors 
and nurses treat pupils suffering from skin diseases or pediculosis. The 
nurses . . . instruct the parents . . . also accompany parents and 
children to consult specialists and assist parents in following the recom- 
mendations of the medical inspector." 

Kansas City, Mo. — "The health commissioner, acting through the 
physicians whom he has selected to visit the schools, is doing an excellent 
service. . . . The principal or the teacher finds that a pupil breathes 
with his mouth open, or does not hear or see well, or looks thin and pale ; 
this child is sent to the principal's office, where the inspector upon 
examination decides whether the child requires medical treatment or 
not. If such treatment is needed, the parent is then notified . . . and 
the family physician takes charge of the case, or the department of health 
will, at the parents' election, treat the case free." 

Minneapolis, Minn. — "A system of medical inspection was inaugurated 
Jan. I, 191 1, consisting of seven nurses and seven physicians. Eighteen 
of our graded schools were grouped into seven districts and a nurse and 
a physician assigned to each. In these, . . . were 11,937 pupils, almost 
exactly one third of the grade-school children of the city. During the 
five months that medical inspection has been in operation there have 
been 19,082 inspections made . . . 7102 were given a physical examina- 
tion, the balance . . . sent to the inspector as suspected contagious cases, 
or because they were applying for readmission to school after having 
been excluded for contagious disease." 

Nashville, Tenn. — " Our work was begun in October, 1908. The schools 
were provided with charts for vision tests, and with such assistance as 
I [Dr. Roberts, medical inspector] could give, each teacher tested the 



Medical Inspectioft of School Children 329 

vision of the children in her class, except in the high school, where the 
principal assigned the work to the several hall teachers. ... If a 
child's vision was found to be 20-30 or less in either eye, or if, by the 
teacher's daUy observation any other defect of eye, of ear, nose, or throat 
was found, the teacher sent notice to the parent. . . . After notice 
had been sent, I visited all the white schools and examined such children 
as were referred to me by the principals." 

Newark, N.J. — "Inspectors shall carefully examine pupils isolated by 
the principal or teacher, and cause to be excluded those showing symptoms 
of any contagious or infectious diseases. . . . These pupils are not to 
return to their classes without being reexamined by the inspector. . . . 
They shall supply each pupil with a card provided for that purpose, filled 
out as directed thereon in ink ... to be taken home by the child, 
... to the parent or guardian. 

"Inspectors shaU not under any circimistances prescribe or suggest 
treatment . . . except in those diseases listed. 

"A physical examination shall be made of every pupU before enroll- 
ment . . . and a record shall be kept of his findings on the forms suppUed 
by this office. When defects . . . are found which can be removed, a 
form filled out by the inspector stating conditions and treatment required 
shall be sent home to the parent or guardian. Inspectors shall make a 
daily written report to the supervisor of medical inspection. 

"Inspectors shall decide all matters of quarantine subject to the rules 
of the board of health, except in cases of doubt, in which case it shall be 
referred to the supervisor of medical inspection." 

Oakland, Cal. — "The director of the health department advises with 
the parents, but in no instance prescribes for the chUd. . . . During 
the first year (1909-1910) . . . blanks were prepared, and after teachers 
were instructed in the symptoms of the defects, they were asked to send 
in the names of those pupUs whom they thought needed the attention of 
the health director. The pupils so reported were given a special examina- 
tion by the health director." 

Providence, R.I. — "In the spring of 1904, medical inspection was in- 
augurated in the Providence schools. Since March i, 1909, three inspec- 
tors have been employed, and on April i, of the same year, this inspection 
was extended to the parochial schools. . . . In 1 906 a school oculist was 
employed. . . . The great part of the work of the school inspectors is 
with contagious skin diseases and pediculosis. These cases are treated 
at the city hall, and the material needed furnished by the board of health. 
... In February, 1909, a school nurse was employed. She foUows up 
the cases from the school to the home . . . and also sees that the children 
sent to the oculist and to the hospital get there. School baths have been 



330 School Hygiem 

in existence since 1905. . . . Four school matrons attend to the daily 
baths in the different buildings." 

Rochester, N.Y. — "In September, 1909, the dental society offered to 
assume the responsibility of conducting a dental clinic for the children 
in the schools. The board of education to provide a room to be used as 
an office, properly heated, lighted, and cared for. . . . Children are 
treated at this dispensary upon recommendation of principals of schools. 
. . . The Society has received permission to open the second dispen- 
sary." 

St. Louis, Mo. — "The school year of 1909-1910 saw the first actual 
work of the department of hygiene. ... A supervisor and five in- 
spectors were authorized by the board of education, Feb. 9, 1909. . . . 
When the inspector arrives at a school, he at once notifies the principal, 
who, in turn, through a monitor, informs the teacher that the inspector 
has arrived and is ready to care for reported cases. The teacher, having 
previously filled out the teacher's diagnosis card, sends the child with this 
card to the inspector. The inspector makes his examination and enters 
his diagnosis on this card and fills out, in duplicate, another form. This 
he instructs the child to deliver to the parent or guardian. If a child is 
found to be suffering from a contagious disease, he is at once excluded and 
the city health department is notified. This terminates the relation of 
the department of hygiene with the child until he or she is ready to reenter 
school, at which time the health department notifies us . . . that quar- 
antine restrictions have been raised. The child is reexamined by the 
inspector of hygiene. 

"In case of . . . physical defect, the diagnosis card [of the teacher] 
is set back a certain number of days in a follow-up file and at that time 
the pupil is reexamined and his condition entered upon the card. Each 
school in the city has an emergency surgical chest." 

Departments of Hygiene. — • After due consideration, it 
seems that the most effective means of developing a system of 
medical supervision is by organizing a Department of Hygiene, 
at the head of which is a competent physician, supported by 
a corps of capable doctors and nurses. Dr. Maxwell of New 
York City suggests that this physician be given the rank and 
salary of Associate City Superintendent. His work should be 
under control of the Superintendent of Schools. There should 
be no connection with the Board of Health, except that the 
medical inspectors would report contagious diseases to that 



Medical Inspection of School Children 331 

board which by virtue of existing laws assumes control of such 
cases. The head of the Department of Hygiene should have as 
assistants a sufficient number of physicians and nurses to guar- 
antee a thorough and continual inspection of the children. 
The tenure of office of these men should be during competent 
service and good behavior. Their salary should be sufficiently 
large to attract competent physicians, else the work will have 
to be done by inexperienced ones. The same need applies to 
nurses. 

The school physician must be an expert diagnostician, for 
his work is to detect 'disease, not to treat it. He should be a 
man of refinement, culture, and tact, that he may win the con- 
fidence of the children who shall come to look upon him as a 
friend. He must know how to exercise firmness in deahng 
with parents who do not understand the necessity, or appre- 
ciate the value, of his work. He must have a psychological, as 
well as a physiological and anatomical, knowledge of children. 
He must be a man of patience, a man who is deeply conscious 
of his mission — the correction of defects, the prevention of 
illness, and the alleviation of suffering, thus adding to the sum 
total of the world's peace and happiness. 

A system of medical inspection, to accomplish the purpose 
for which it is established, should include : — 

I. A thorough examination of every child upon entering 
school. Record should be made of the results of this examina- 
tion. Note should be taken of the diseases the child has previ- 
ously had, its race, occupation of parents, physical condition of 
parents, home environment, pecuHarities of the child. Parents 
should be notified of defects and treatment recommended. 

II. Daily morning examination of all children referred to the 
physician by the teacher, nurse, parent, or the child itself, as 
seemingly ill; all children from homes where disease of any 
kind is known or reported to exist ; this to be followed by the 
immediate exclusion of the child when the nature of the dis- 
ease makes such measures necessary. 



332 School Hygiene 

III. Examination of all children who return to school, after 
having been detained at home on account of illness of any 
kind, without a properly signed certificate of recovery. 

IV. Examination of children who reenter school without 
properly signed certificates from the Board of Health or at- 
tending physician, from homes where contagious diseases have 
existed either in the child or other members of the family. 

V. Routine weekly examination, by the school nurse, of the 
condition of scalp, eyes, ears, teeth, fingernails, nose, and throat. 
A similar monthly examination by the physician to detect 
symptoms that might have been overlooked by the nurse. 

VI. Examination of children referred by the school nurse 
for diagnosis. 

VII. When contagious cases are discovered in school, the 
medical inspector should immediately report such to the Board 
of Health ; all children known or suspected to have been ex- 
posed being excluded and the necessary measures of disin- 
fection of the building and books effected. 

VIII. The school nurse should devote a certain time each 
morning to the treatment of minor ailments, and the instruc- 
tion of the children in practical lessons of hygiene. She 
should, furthermore, be a mediator between the school and 
the home, tracing diseases back to their causes, and teaching 
the rudiments of the science of preventive medicine. 

IX. The school physician ought to be the guide in all mat- 
ters of sanitation concerning the school. 

X. The medical inspector and the nurse must each be pro- 
vided with a room in which to work. The physician's office 
must contain the necessary instruments and appliances for a 
complete examination of patients. The nurse's room must be 
supplied with bandages, instruments, and drugs essential in 
the treatment of minor ailments. There should also be a 
rest room, where children taken suddenly ill may lie down 
until arrangements can be made for their removal from the 
school. 



Medical Inspection of School Children 333 

XI. In all questions pertaining to his work, the school 
physician should be responsible to the Superintendent of 
Schools only. He should also have the right of appeal to the 
governing body in case of capricious dismissal. 

But with all these points fully developed, the system may 
yet fail to accomplish much of the good at which it aims. 
Therefore, I add as the twelfth essential : — 

A cooperation with hospitals, dispensaries, dental infir- 
maries, and charitable organizations, that in cases where parents 
cannot, or will not, supply the necessary glasses, braces, or 
whatever treatment, medical or surgical, is needed, the child 
may still be provided for, and thus put in a condition to profit 
by the instruction the state is so liberally furnishing. 

When such a system of medical supervision prevails uni- 
versally, our schools will no longer be centers of contagion ; 
the work of our classrooms will be less and less interfered 
with because of pupils who cannot keep up with the work — 
pupils who continually fail because they cannot see or hear 
what is said and done before them, pupils who fail because 
some disease is sapping away their physical strength and 
mental vitality. With the physical health of the school 
children of to-day carefully guarded, we need have less fear 
for the morals of the coming generation. Much good has 
already been accomplished In the last few years, especially 
in our own country, one detects an inclination toward a imi- 
versal system of medical inspection of schools. 

The hygienic doctrine which gave rise to the modern effort 
to introduce medical supervision in schools is founded on the 
beHef that prevention of disease is a civic question. The only 
asset of a state or nation that counts in the long run is honest, 
intelligent, and vigorous citizenship. Already all the ad- 
vancing nations of the earth have made provisions for the 
education of children from the intellectual and moral points 
of view, and most of those in the lead have likewise provided, 
in part at least, for the physical welfare of their school children. 



334 School Hygiene 

The appeal for this kind of help has come in the main from the 
teachers who have been forced to see that mental and moral 
progress are very frequently contingent on the physical sound- 
ness of the children. Hence the first efforts in behalf of the 
health of school cliildren had to do with those defects which 
limited their intellectual progress. Defects in vision were 
searched out primarily because the children could not get 
along in their lessons, rather than for the purpose of saving 
their eyes and health for larger future usefulness. The larger 
idea of the duty of the school toward physical soundness has 
yet taken but little hold on the general mind. It seems that 
only in the very face of a scourge of some dread disease will 
people act with any sort of vigor. It becomes necessary fre- 
quently for the government to threaten quarantine to get 
preventive measures carried out. Though authorities may 
know the dangers of a typhoid epidemic, they often refuse or 
neglect to take the precautions necessary to prevent it. Peo- 
ple will drink water taken out of a dirty river, and call it 
good, even though they krlow a filthy sewer empties into the 
river less than a mile higher up. To the ordinary layman clear 
water is synonymous with pure water. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Should so-called medical inspection of school children be under 
the control of the school board, and in the department of hygiene, or 
should it be under the control of the local health board ? Determine the 
prevailing practice in this regard, and note the advantages and disad- 
vantages of each system. 

2. Would it be better to change the name "medical inspection" to 
" health inspection " ? Why ? 

3. What are the qualifications of a competent health inspector for 
schools ? 

4. How is it possible to extend health inspection into rural schools? 
What is being done in England in this regard ? 

5. Why have hygiene, the care of health, and preventive medicine 
made such rapid strides in the past quarter of a century ? 



Medical Inspection of School Children 335 

6. What conditions in your community are menaces to the pubHc 
health? Can you arrange your school work to help eradicate such 
conditions ? 

7. Make a careful study of the laws and ordinances in some typical 
cities and towns, relating to medical inspection of the school children. 

8. Why have school nurses proved so helpful in connection with 
medical inspection? 

9. Determine, if possible, the relative cost of medical inspection in a 
typical city, and the saving in doctor's biUs and school time directly and 
indirectly effected thereby. 

10. Should school clinics and dispensaries be encouraged ? Why ? 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Cornell, W. S. Health and Medical Inspection of School Children. 
Philadelphia, 1912. 614 pp., illus. 

GuLiCK and Ayres. Medical Inspection of Schools. New York, 1908. 
276 pp., iUus. 

Kelynack, T. N. Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars. Lon- 
don, 1910. 434 pp. 

Mackenzie, W. L. The Health of the School Child. London, 1906. 
120 pp. 

Mackenzie, W. L. The Medical Inspection of School Children. Edin- 
burgh, 1904. 445 pp., plates. 

New York Board of Health. A Bureau of Child Hygiene, etc. Bureau 
of Municipal Research, 1908. 40 pp., tables. 

Steven, E. M. Medical Supervision in Schools (Great Britain, 
Canada, United States, Germany, Switzerland). London, 19 10. 
268 pp., illus. 

ZiRKLE, H. W. Medical Inspection of Schools. Boulder, Col., 1902. 
66 pp. 



CHAPTER XXIir 
HYGIENE OF SCHOOL UTENSILS AND BOOKS 

Danger of Contagion in the Use of Common Lead Pencils. — 

In these days, when most or nearly all contagious diseases are 
known to be due to germs, bacterial or protozoan, teachers 
have power to forestall disease through cleanliness and dis- 
infection not dreamed of a few years ago. Since slates have 
disappeared ,from the schoolrooms, and paper and lead pencils 
furnished by the school have taken their places, a problem of 
hygiene has arisen in place of the one discarded with dirty 
slates. It is a common habit with school children, and even 
with adults, to moisten the tip of the pencil by putting it into 
the mouth in order to get a darker Hne. Where pencils are dis- 
tributed daily or even weekly from some common supply, the 
pencil one child has used to-day may be used by another to- 
morrow, and the germs left by the first picked up by the second. 
It may be well for the teacher to speak of the habit as unnec- 
essary and filthy, and to caution the children against the 
dangers incident thereto ; still, if nothing more is done, the 
danger will not be obviated. It has been determined by care- 
ful bacteriological studies that not only the tip of the pencil 
may carry pathogenic germs from one m.outh to another, but 
that the blunt end of the pencil, whether it carries a rubber tip 
or not, may also in the same way offer opportunity for the , 
spread of diseases, such as diphtheria, tonsillitis, influenza, or ' 
even tuberculosis. 

Dr. Arnold, after making a careful bacteriological study of 
school utensils,^ says : " On Jan. 14, 1897, I secured a lead 

' Bacteriological Study of School Utensils, Dr. Mary L. Arnold, Pedagogical 
Seminary, v. vi, p. 383, September, 1899. 

336 



Hygiene of School Utensils and Books 337 

pencil from the school. The pencil was from a box con- 
taining pencils that had been collected from a class. They 
were kept by the teacher until used the next day. Plate and 
tube cultures were made from it. Great were the surprises 
which that harmless lead pencil had in store. In a single 
plate culture from that pencil I counted five hundred colonies. 
At least nine hundred or one thousand colonies covered the 
Petri dish. Studies of thirteen colonies demonstrated bacilli 
and micrococci." There is no reason why, as Dr. Arnold 
suggests, the pencil tip may not carry germs of pneumonia, 
tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other virulent 
diseases from one pupil to another, for, as we have said, the 
pencil often finds its way into the mouth of a child regardless 
of whose mouth it has last left. 

Proper Care of Pens and Pencils. — It is worth while, 
therefore, to give some thought to the hygienic use of a com- 
mon supply of pens and pencils. In the first place out of mere 
respect for decency and cleanliness, each child should be fur- 
nished with a pencil with his or her name on it, so that each 
child will daily use the pencil belonging to it, and no inter- 
change be allowed. At first thought this looks as if it would 
burden the teacher. But in the long run it may save time, and 
it will enable her to locate wasteful and careless use of pencils 
and thereby furnish her an opportunity to teach a good and 
definite lesson in civics, for it will make each child responsible 
for the care of his pencil. The name of a child can be easily 
written in ink on a pencil, if a thin slice of the wood near the 
blunt end is cut away. This can be done in such a way as 
not to harm or seriously disfigure the pencil. The pen stock 
can be marked in the most convenient place in the same way. 
Then if it seems necessary to gather up the pencils and pens 
after use, a simple case can be constructed out of denim or 
some such material, designed to accommodate in separate 
compartments as many such articles as would be needed by 
the pupils in one row of desks from front to back. The pupil 



338 School Ilvi^icnc 

in the rear seat can gather and distribute them when tliere is 
need, hanging this simple case on hooks fastened to the back 
of his seat. By this moans no one but the owner of a pencil 
need handle it, and the [xnicils will not come into contact 
with each other. 

Occasionally, especially if there are any signs of tliphtheria 
in the neighborhood, it is well to sterilize pen stocks and pencils 
by emersion for a short time in a solution of one to one thou- 
sand mercuric bichloride, or some disinfectant not destructive 
to them. Danger from diphtheria may exist long after a 
child has recovered sulViciently to return to school, or even 
when the cliild is not suthciently indisposed to quit school. 
More trouble from contagion comes in the fall when cliildren 
return from vacation than at other times, for many may be 
carrying germs from which they have experienced no difhculty, 
but which through transference may start an epidemic. 

For the same reasons, though in a dilTerent way, books, 
crayons, and especially clay, for modeling purposes, may be- 
come agents for spreading contagion. For not only are 
pathogenic germs often found in the mouths of school children, 
but nasal discharges, eye infection, and various skin diseases 
furnish opportunity for contaminating ixnis, pencils, books, 
crayons, clay, etc., wliich will render them not only objection- 
able, but dangerous for indiscriminate use. 

When it comes to the use of common drinldng cups, com- 
mon towels, combs, and brushes, added danger is suggested. 
The subjects of wholesome drinking water and drinking 
fountains are considered under a separate heading. (See 
pp. 51 f.) 

Danger from Crayons. — Common blackboard crayons, 
because of their porous nature and the ease with which dirt 
clings to them, seem to otTer almost ideal conditions for the 
unclean hands of one pupil to transfer to others samples of 
many kinds of germs. But chalk dust so polluted not only 
gets on the hands ; it may, and often does, irritate the nose and 



Hygiene of School Utensils and Books 339 

throat and in this way may sow the seeds of disease. The 
simplest precaution one can take with reference to chalk is 
probably the best one : a vigorous application of soap and 
water and a clean towel to the hands of those who would use 
the blackboard. There is, however, good reason why a good 
quality of crayon should be used instead of the soft, brittle 
kind usually furnished. A good quahty of talc is even bet- 
ter, if slate or glass boards are to be used. Then, as sug- 
gested elsewhere, the crayons should rest on a wire screen in 
the chalk trough so as to separate them from the dust which 
has already fallen from the board. Colored crayons must be 
handled carefully, for some of them contain arsenic. 

Disinfection of School Books. — Since school books are 
being furnished in greater and greater numbers to the pupils, 
the proper disinfection of them has become a rather serious 
problem. It is a fact, despite all that conscientious teachers 
can do, that many children come to school with dirty hands, 
soiled garments, and filthy mouths. Many of them suffering 
from nasal troubles are not furnished with clean handker- 
chiefs, and their hands are frequently unfit to handle their 
own books, not to speak of reference books, supplemental 
books, and those texts loaned them by the school. 

Many methods have been devised to free books from dust 
and disinfect them ; but most of them when effective in de- 
stroying germs have been injurious to the books. The most 
effective method which has come to my attention seems to be 
that described by Boyer,^ and from his article the following 
extended quotation is made : — 

"In France Dr. Lop proposed several years ago to disinfect the books 
of the primary schools every summer ; also to disinfect the books, note- 
books, and clothes of every pupil attacked by a contagious disease. 
But how can a book be disinfected without damaging it ? Krauz recom- 
mends exposure to high pressure steam for forty minutes. The condi- 
tion of the binding and the pages after such treatment may be left to the 

' See Scientific American, v. ci, No. 4, July 24, 1909, pp. 60-61. 



340 School Hygiene 

reader's imagination. The original process of Berlioz and Champion- 
nicre does not seem much better. This process consists in subjecting 
objects to the vapor of formic and ethylic aldehydes in an oven heated 
to about 200° F. This treatment continued for two hours completely 
destroys the most virulent germs (tuberculosis, diphtheria, coh bacillus, 
etc.) placed on the edges, or even in the center, of the volumes. For 
example, a large volume of 1300 pages was selected for experiment. One 
of the middle pages was saturated with pus, and another was soiled with 
fecal matter. A portion of each of these pages was torn off for use as 
a control. The volume was then placed in the disinfecting oven and 
heated for two hours and fifteen minutes to about 180° F. Experiments 
in producing cultures with the soiled parts gave entirely negative results. 
Unfortunately, the treatment slightly injured both paper and binding. 
Marsulan has recently improved this method by the invention of the 
simple apparatus which is now in use at Montreuil, n the workshops 
where diseased persons and cripples are employed. In the improved 
process, the books first go through the beater. This machine is a long 
box connected at one end to an ordinary stove, and provided at the other 
end with a door through which open racks containing the books are 
introduced. Inside the box wooden rods are caused to rise and fall, 
alternately, by cams placed on a cylinder, which is turned by a crank. 
A ventilating fan and a sliding drawer complete this apparatus, which is 
mounted on trestles. When the crank is turned, the rods strike the 
covers of the books and dislodge the dust. The heavy dust falls into 
the drawer upon a mass of sawdust, saturated with a powerful dis- 
infectant, while the lighter dust, carried ofi" by the air current, is consumed 
in the stove. After this treatment, the books are suspended singly by 
pincers from a series of open metal racks, the covers of the book being 
bent back. Thus the pages are freely separated, and give easy access 
to the antiseptic vapor. The racks are mounted on rails, on which they 
are run into the disinfecting oven. Each of the three ovens employed 
at Montreuil accommodates two racks of books. The ovens are sheet- 
iron boxes, hermetically closed. Two sides of the box can be raised by 
cranks to admit the book racks. In the center of the oven is a vessel 
filled with a solution of formic aldehyde, into which dips a strip of felt, 
which can be moved up and down from the outside of the oven. The 
ovens are heated by steam pipes placed below them, to 122° F. The 
irritating vapor of formic aldehyde makes its escape through a pipe 
at the top of each oven. The operation of disinfection is simple. The 
vessel is filled with formic aldehyde, and the racks laden with books are 
pushed into the ovens, which are then closed and heated to the required 
temperature for a few hours. After heating is stopped, the volumes are 



Hygiene of School Utensils and Books 341 

allowed to remain in the oven until the next day, when they are found to 
be entirely aseptic. This improved process of disinfection does not in- 
jure either paper or cardboard. It is very efi&cacious, as has been proved 
by the experiments of Dr. Mequel, and it is also very cheap, costing only 
about one half cent per volume. 

" The municipal council will shortly be asked to establish new disinfect- 
ing plants at various points around Paris, in order to extend the system 
to all the school libraries of the Department of the Seine. Several foreign 
cities are about to follow this example." 

I have introduced this long quotation describing this 
complicated process, not with the hope that it can, or will, be 
used extensively, or even at all, but to show how difficult it is 
to disinfect books effectively without doing damage to them. 
The books must be cleaned of dust and the pages must be well 
separated before disinfection can be effectively accomplished. 

In general where there is any likehhood of certain books 
transmitting contagion these can be segregated, and either 
destroyed or, by using the principles illustrated in the method 
described above, subjected to those gaseous disinfectants 
which will not harm the color or destroy the book. It must 
ever be remembered that a gaseous disinfectant must have 
easy access and plenty of time. 

Parts of books may be purified by direct sunshine, but this 
method is impracticable on a large scale. 

The safe rule for teachers is to insist that the hands of the 
children be clean, and to teach them the careful, sanitary 
use of books and all common utensils of the schoolroom. 

Slates are Bad. — There is no longer any excuse for the use 
of slates in school work. They were almost indispensable for 
nearly a century, but inexpensive paper and lead pencils have 
taken their places, much to the rehef of all. Slates are noisy, 
nearly always too dirty to use safely, and always hard on the 
children's eyes because of the lack of good, clear definition of 
the pencil marks, and proper contrast between the marks and 
the color of the slates. They are still found in the rural schools 
of some states, but have been rapidly disappearing in the last 



342 School Hygiene 

twenty years. The school boards of nearly all cities furnish 
lead pencils free, and likewise much of the paper that the 
children use in their daily work. The school system has 
gained much from this substitution, but the children have 
gained more. 

It was almost impossible, when slates were used, for the 
teacher to examine the written work with sufficient frequency 
and care to give each child the sort of criticism needed. Lessons 
or exercises written on paper can be examined and criticized 
out of hours, and better English and more careful work in all 
lines demanded. Besides, a clear white page of paper will 
permit no mistakes and errors, without protest. Erasures 
leave behind them telltale stories of hasty work or careless 
thinking. A clean notebook sets standards of neatness to 
which children unconsciously respond. Slates offered small 
opportunity for successful work in drawing, paper and pencils 
lend themselves to wide ranges of artistic or mechanical draw- 
ing ; slates were disgustingly filthy, paper is clean and harm- 
less ; slates were noisy, and troublesome to handle, paper is 
noiseless and always ready. Slates did our fathers and grand- 
fathers a great service, but we are now in a new world educa- 
tionally, and we have Httle further use for slates. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Devise a practical means of preventing miscellaneous use of pens 
and pencils in schools. 

2. Observe the use of modeling clay and devise methods of handling 
it so as to avoid possible contagion. 

3. Devise a simple and practicable method of sterilizing books. Use 
the suggestions in the method described. 

4. What color of writing paper is most restful to the eyes, and at the 
same time furnishes sufficient contrast with the ink to render the writing 
most legible ? 

5. Should all slates be banished from schools? Why? 

6. What is the best size and length of a penholder or a lead pencil for 
children of the various grades ? 



Hygiene of School Utensils and Books 343 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Beebe, W. L. Carho Gasoline Method for the Disinfection of Books. Jour. 

Amer. Public Health Association, v. i, pp. 54-60. 
BoYER, Jacques. Disinfection of School Books. Scientific American, 

Vol. loi, pp. 60-61. July 24, 1909. Illus. 
Nice, L. B. The Disinfection of Books. Pedagogical Seminary, v. 18, 

pp. 197-204. Bibliography. 
Renney, H. The Disinfection of Books by Formalin Vapor and by Dry 

Heat. Jour, Royal Sanitary Institute, Vol. 31, pp. 46-48. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
CLEANING SCHOOLROOMS 

Vacuum System of Cleaning. — It is now possible to clean 
by the vacuum system all schoolrooms in cities and towns 
where electricity or other motor power is available. It is true 
that vacuum cleaners which are operated by hand are now 
on the market and can be used anywhere ; but while they may 
be fairly successful for homes and small buildings in general, 
they are as yet not practicable for the heavier and rougher 
work of cleaning school buildings. But with a central ex- 
haust or vacuum system installed in the basement and operated 
by an electric motor or some other equally effective driving 
power, and a system of pipes leading to all the rooms and halls 
of a school building, it is possible to clean a schoolroom far 
more thoroughly than by any other method. And it is hoped 
that architects will further the movement by installing such a 
system in all new school buildings. The time is not far-distant 
when no other system will satisfy, and surely the need for such 
relief is very urgent. The advantages of this method of clean- 
ing schools may be stated briefly as follows : — 

(i) Dirt and dust are removed directly from the school- 
rooms and deposited where no further danger is possible. 
Sweeping a schoolroom only stirs up the dust and spreads it 
throughout the room on desks, books, ledges, and walls, where 
it will be again thrown into the air or brought into contact 
with the hands or clothing. An exhaust system when prop- 
erly installed and managed stirs up no dust, but through 
suction gathers it from the floors and walls, carries it to a 
central deposit or flue preferably in some convenient part of 
the basement, and thus effectively rids the room of dust. 

344 



Cleaning Schoolrooms 345 

(2) Such a system makes it unnecessary for janitors to go 
over a schoolroom twice before it looks clean. The exhaust 
or vacuum method therefore will save time. There are still 
some practical difficulties in the operation of this system, but 
it has already proved very helpful and gives promise of much 
larger usefulness. 

(3) Much of the dust brought into schoolrooms is picked 
up by the shoes of the children when on the streets, in alley- 
ways, from unkept sidewalks, or the open public roads. A 
microscopic analysis of this dust discloses Hnt from clothing, 
bits of excreta from horses, dogs, or other animals, decaying 
vegetation, in fact all the rubbish of the outer world, and to 
such particles pathogenic germs are very frequently attached. 
When air laden with dust of this type is breathed, it not only 
irritates and clogs the air passages, but offers opportunity for 
infection, especially from the germs of tuberculosis and other 
diseases of the respiratory tract. When schoolrooms are 
cleaned by the vacuum system, and sufficient pure air filtered 
of all dust is furnished, then, and not until then, can we expect 
to get rid of the dust nuisance in schools. 

(4) The vacuum system makes it possible to clear the walls 
and ceiling of a schoolroom of dust without marring them and 
without throwing a cloud of dust into the air. 

Other Methods of getting rid of Dust. — Where it is im- 
possible to secure the necessary means for this method of 
cleaning, the next best thing is to scatter clean dampened 
sawdust on the floor, and by the use of a fiber brush broom, 
cause it to gather the dust from the floor. There are now 
on the market, for the purpose of accomplishing this end, 
numbers of patent dustless preparations which consist in 
the main of oiled or waxed sawdust mixed with some dis- 
infectant. When such is spread on the floor and carefully 
pushed along, the dust particles adhere to the oily particles of 
wood and at the same time the floor absorbs some of the oil 
or wax. But a janitor with the least gumption and a Httle 



346 School Hygiene 

specific direction from the principal or superintendent can 
make his own " dustless " preparation. The use of oil on 
floors as a means of preventing dust from lifting into the air 
is discussed elsewhere, and needs no further consideration 
here. 

Scouring Floors. — Frequent scourings of schoolroom floors 
is to be deplored when the floors can be kept in a wholesome 
condition without it. The swellings and shrinkings due to the 
scrubbing of wooden floors will in time spHt the grooves, draw 
the nails, and roughen the surface of the floors. Floors that 
have been well cleaned and then kept oiled or waxed seldom 
need scrubbing. 

Removing Ink Stains. — One of the most serious blemishes 
to schoolroom floors arises from spilled ink. If, however, the 
floor is kept weU oiled or waxed, and the pupils are instructed 
to absorb the ink quickly by means of ashes, fine sawdust, or 
even dust from the road (fine sawdust ought to be kept ready 
for such emergencies), the stain will be minimized. But the 
matter of removing ink stains after the ink has thoroughly 
settled into the wood is not so easy. Perhaps one of the best 
methods is to wash the stained part and then, after scrubbing it 
dry, treat it with a saturated solution of oxalic acid. If this 
is appHed hot, it will give better results. Care must be taken 
to prevent this acid from coming in contact with the clothing. 

Sweeping Schoolrooms. — For all kinds of schoolroom 
sweeping, the hair or fiber brush broom is much to be preferred, 
as it lifts less dust, and is much more useful under school 
desks than an ordinary broom. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

I. Gather up the results of the bacteriological examinations made on 
the dust of schoolrooms. Determine how many of the facts thus dis- 
closed ought to be taught to your pupils in order to give them reasons 
for being careful at school and at home. 



Cleaning Schoolrooms 347 

2. Experiment with sawdust dampened with some odorless oils in 
order to determine what sort of dustless sweeping compounds can be 
made at little expense. 

3. What sort of inexpensive but effective mat or shoe cleaner can be 
made for rural schools? 

4. What sort of surface is best for playgrounds, in order to render them 
safe and comfortable as a place for play, and at the same time to prevent 
dirt and sand from clinging to the shoes of the children ? 

5. Experiment with the various so-called sanitary dustcloths and mops 
now advertised. Try using on the furniture a cotton flannel cloth with 
a little floor wax on it, rubbing afterward with a clean cloth. 

6. If sawdust is not available, bits of dampened newspaper may be 
used to gather up the dust. Try it and note the results. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

CooLEY, R. L. The Vacuum Cleaning of Schoolhouses a Special Problem. 

American School Board Journal, v. 43, pp. 18-19. July, 191 1. 
HORTON, E. G. When and how should Schoolhouses be Disinfected? 

Ohio Sanitary Bvdletin, v. 6, pp. 246-250. May, 1902. 
Shaffer, C. G. Sweeping and Cleaning Schoolhouses. An Experiment 

in the Use of Oil for remedying the Dust Evil. School Exchange, 

V. I, pp. 440-441- 
Wisconsin Journal of Education, Sweeping the Schoolroom by a Dustless 

Process, v. 41, pp. 28-30. January, 1909. 



CHAPTER XXV 

QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES OF A SCHOOL 
JANITOR 

More Intelligent Janitor Service Demanded. — The evo- 
lution of the school janitor gives many side lights on the ideals 
dominating public school education and shows in a more or 
less definite way the main features of our growth toward better 
adaptation and more effective specialization. Once almost 
any sort of building was considered good enough in which to 
hold school, and any one who could sweep and make a fire was 
considered competent to be a janitor ; but along with the prog- 
ress in regard to school buildings there have come larger and 
more varied demands on the janitor. A mere sweeper and 
builder of fires is as much out of place now in a well-equipped 
school as Squeers would be as principal of a modern high school. 

The evolution of the janitor illustrates in a clear manner the 
general professional uplift that has characterized, in recent 
decades, the whole school question. His duties have developed 
from those that any unfortunate widow or cripple could per- 
form to those of a responsible, intelhgent officer with technical 
knowledge and definite skill in handhng various kinds of ma- 
chinery. Many school boards and some superintendents are not 
yet conscious of this new standard for janitors, and the reason 
for inserting this chapter is a desire to impress, especially on 
school boards, the necessity for more intelligent service in the 
ma'nagement and care of the compKcated equipment of a 
thoroughly up-to-date school building. 

Qualifications of a School Janitor. — What, then, are the 
necessary quahfications of the janitor, as fixed by the demands 
of a thoroughly hygienic school building? 

348 



Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor 349 

A Clear Understanding of the Need of Fresh Air. — He 

must be intellectually able to comprehend the need of fresh, 
clean air, and he should know the amount each room must have 
in order to keep it wholesome. He should understand these 
matters so thoroughly that no excuse can be found for negH- 
gence. It is not enough for him merely to know how to start 
fires and to set a fan running, for intelHgent, purposeful manage- 
ment is absolutely essential to warrant the successful operation 
of a modern system of ventilation. 

Training and Skill in handling Machinery. — He must be 
sufhciently trained in mechanics to be able to handle electric 
motors, gas and steam engines, electric switchboards, ther- 
mostats, ventilating fans, and various kinds of heating fur- 
naces. It is very wasteful to go to great expense in supplying 
a school building with such important apparatus, and then to 
put them under the care of one who does not know how to use 
them and therefore cannot fully appreciate their purposes. A 
mere " rule-of- thumb " worker, either in school or out of it, 
can never be counted on in emergencies, not even in unusual 
situations. 

It may be argued that it is a part of the business of a principal 
to guide, direct, and inspect the work of the janitor, and there- 
fore all that is needed is a wilHng worker. True, the janitor 
ought to be subordinate to the principal and with him work 
to surround the children with the most healthful and invigorat- 
ing environment possible ; but a principal who has charge of a 
thousand children ought to be reheved of the details in the over- 
sight of those sanitary affairs. The principal must inspect 
frequently and advise when advice is needed, but his time is 
too valuable to spend much of it in the basement. 

Not long since, I spent some hours in the basement with a 
very kind and obhging janitor. He was proud of the new and 
handsome building for which it was his duty to care, and he 
was most wilHng to do anything to keep it clean and wholesome. 
It was equipped with the plenum system of ventilation, a 



350 School Hygiene 

hot-air system of heating, and the temperature of the rooms 
was to be regulated by thermostats. But this man did not 
and apparently could not understand the principle of the ther- 
mostat, and hence could not tell when they were operating 
successfully or when they were out of order. It happened that 
on this occasion two of them were not working properly, and it 
seemed beyond his power to understand where the trouble was. 
The principal was a most excellent and capable woman, and, 
though proficient in her duties upstairs, she too, through lack 
of interest in mechanical things, had not been able to detect 
the difficulty. The children were suffering by reason of the 
ignorance of a janitor, and a part of an expensive equipment 
was rendered useless for the time, because no one in immedi- 
ate command recognized the need of replacing a tambour and 
adjusting a lever to its load. 

A janitor must be intelligent and sufficiently trained in 
mechanics to meet all emergencies and to understand thoroughly 
all the appliances with which he must deal. By exacting 
so much mechanical skill from a janitor, I do not mean to imply 
that he is to take the place of the general school mechanic now 
supplied in most city or district systems, for the business of 
the latter is to make scientific estimates, repairs, and changes 
that a janitor cannot find time to make. But there are many 
emergencies which a janitor must meet immediately in order 
to prevent impairing the equipment, endangering the health 
of the children, and wasting time. A janitor must know how, 
not only to operate the machinery needed in a modern school 
building, but how also to repair it. For this purpose he must 
be furnished with sufficient tools to enable him to meet emer- 
gencies, and he must know how to use these tools intelligently. 

A Janitor must have a Real Love for Cleanliness and Neat- 
ness. — He must have a love for neatness and must know 
when a room is clean and how to rid it of dust. Under the 
best of conditions a surprising amount of dirt accumulates 
daily in busy schoolrooms, and it is no small undertaldng to 



Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor 351 

keep acres of floor space clean, neat, and hygienic. A janitor 
who relies on broom and feather duster either has no concep- 
tion of the dangers due to dust, or else prefers to spare himself 
rather than serve the children. It is certainly false economy, 
as well as dangerous to health, to neglect the much-used floors 
of a schoolroom and allow them to warp and roughen, and 
the cracks to fill with dirt. These openings become the tem- 
porary resting places of many sorts of pathogenic germs, 
which a sHght draft will Hft to the breathing line. We ought 
to be very near the end of that period in our school manage- 
ment when a janitor is allowed to stir up great clouds of dust 
in the evenings with a broom and again in the mornings with 
a feather duster. It is the business of a janitor to know how 
to avoid this, and the board of education ought to exact such 
knowledge as one condition to his appointment. No manu- 
facturing business would employ a man and at once put him 
in a place of such responsibiHty unless he knew how to perform 
in a satisfactory manner the tasks he assumes. But the reader 
may ask. Where is the janitor to gain this knowledge save 
through experience? In reply I would say that it would be a 
good plan to select the most experienced, intelligent, and careful 
janitor in a city system and require all those who seek employ- 
ment in this line of work to train during a short period under 
his supervision. A few days of instruction would be of very 
great service and would abundantly repay the expense and 
effort required. If this is not feasible, the principal and super- 
intendent must furnish such instruction. Farther on in this 
chapter an attempt will be made to set forth a series of rules 
devised to aid in this instruction. 

The Moral Influence of a Janitor. — A pubHc school janitor 
should be a man of good morals, should have a sympathetic 
attitude toward schoolboys, and should vigorously discounte- 
nance anything looking toward filthy or vicious Uberties in the 
basement or on the playground. A tactful man of this kind 
can render untold service by a quiet, manly attitude toward the 



352 School Hygiene 

boys, engendering in them a lasting disgust for vulgar behavior 
frequently prevalent in schools where there are no men teachers 
to supervise. Furthermore, the janitor will come into daily 
contact with the children who lunch in the basement rooms, and 
to a greater or less extent he must mingle with the boys and 
exert a guiding influence over them during intermissions and 
on rainy days. It is needless to say that a coarse, careless, 
unsympathetic man would either nag the boys or disregard 
many unseemly liberties. 

The General Importance of a Good Janitor. — A superin- 
tendent of wide experience, one who has charge of many 
hundreds of teachers, has recently said, "Next to the prin- 
cipal, the janitor can become the most important personage 
in a city school." This is not putting it too strongly, but it 
is almost impossible to get the average school board to take 
this view. At present the janitor is frequently appointed to 
his place by ward politics and kept there by the same influence. 
This condition of affairs must cease, and to this end, school 
boards and school principals must be educated. The janitor 
is a school officer, and has to do in a vital way with the health, 
morals, and progress of the children, and should be nominated 
by the principal in conference with the superintendent, and 
without such nomination no one should be ehgible for appoint- 
ment. 

The Professional Qualifications of a School Janitor. — It 
should be the duty of a janitor to keep himself posted on all 
things pertaining to his profession. Books and magazines 
ought to be furnished him wherein he can learn of new and 
better devices for doing his work, and so come to take a real 
professional interest in his calUng. A man who has nothing 
to commend him but poverty and political pull will seldom 
make any progress, and is apt to degenerate. You cannot 
depend on such a one voluntarily to disinfect a room when in- 
fectious diseases suddenly appear. Neither can you count on 
him to make any experiments looking toward better care of 



Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor 353 

the floors, walls, and toilets. He will do things in a routine 
way despite changing conditions. 

Such are in brief some of the general qualifications of a 
public school janitor, and the sooner school boards appreciate 
the importance of them, the less will the health of the children 
be endangered. It is needless to say that such qualifications 
demand good pay, and that tenure of position should be secure 
to those who fully satisfy the demands. 

Some Specific Directions to School Janitors. — i. All wooden floors 
should be thoroughly cleaned, disinfected, and waxed at least twice a year, 
or if the floor is so conditioned that it is not best to use wax, a thin coat- 
ing of "dustless oil" should be carefully spread over it. Dustless oU 
has proved itself very useful, and the opposition to it has come about 
almost wholly because, through careless application of it, skirts have been 
needlessly soUed or ruined. When it is of the proper consistency and 
properly applied, such a floor dressing wUl not only preserve the floors 
and prevent dust from flying, but will also serve as a useful disinfectant 
or hinderant. 

2. Before sweeping any floor, there should be scattered over it a suffi- 
cient supply of dampened sawdust, bits of dampened blotting paper, or 
some preparation of sawdust and distillate, to catch and hold the dust. It 
is not only dangerous to allow dust from the floors to arise in the air, but 
it necessitates almost double work to keep the furniture and books clean. 
Such preparations as "Dust Clean" and other similar combinations seem 
to answer the purpose. But, if funds will not permit investment in 
such preparations, dampened sawdust is nearly always available at a 
minimum of expense and is an eflfective dust gatherer. 

3. It is better to use fiber or hair brush brooms for sweeping, for these 
do not lift the dust in the air, and they can be better managed among the 
desks than the ordinary brooms. 

4. Feather dusters are a delusion and a snare. They, of course, save 
time, but they are very objectionable in that they stir up the dust and 
never remove it. Dust cloths are far more effective, and each room 
should have a good supply of these at hand. One good dusting with 
a cloth is worth three with a feather duster. It is, however, only a 
matter of a short time until all large city schools will be supplied with 
apparatus for removing dust by suction, and all new buildings ought to 
be arranged to anticipate this method of sanitation. 

5. The janitor should call the attention of the teachers to the condi- 



354 School Hygiene 

tion of the desks at the beginning of each term and with them help to 
make each child responsible for all rough usage or ink spots. Clean 
desks give a dignity and a tone of refinement to a schoolroom that is 
easily lost if such care is not exercised. 

6. Chalk erasers should be thoroughly cleaned at least once a week 
for all rooms, and as much oftener for the higher grades as the neces- 
sities of the case demand. They ought to be taken out of the rooms for 
this cleaning. Where vacuum cleaners are installed, erasers can be thor- 
oughly cleaned by suction. Chalk troughs must be kept clean of dust, 
otherwise any possible draft will scatter some of it through the air of 
the room. Damp sponges are useful for this purpose. This rasping dust 
is very irritating to the mucous membranes of the air passages and may, 
in this way, become dangerous to the health of the children and teachers. 
(See Chap. XXIV.) 

7. The blackboards must be sponged clean as often as their use neces- 
sitates. But they should never be water-soaked or left streaked. 

8. Window shades should be kept in repair so that when drawn they 
will fit closely to the window frames. They should be rolled up every 
evening in order that the rooms may be thoroughly flooded with light 
and get the advantage of any sunlight available between sessions, and 
also to keep them from curling at the sides. 

g. School benches should be securely fastened to the floor and properly 
placed and correctly spaced. The following directions for placing and spac- 
ing the desks will give in nearly all cases the best results for a room thirty- 
two by twenty-four feet. In rooms for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades 
(i) leave an aisle two feet wide next to the windows, one three feet wide 
between the rear wall and the rear seats, and make the aisles between the 
rows of desks from front to rear twenty-two inches wide. Place all desks 
so that a vertical line dropped from the inner edge of the desk top will 
strike the seat two inches back of its outer edge. Keep the rows straight, 
looking from the front to the rear. No regular schoolroom of this size 
and for these grades should be arranged to accommodate more than forty 
or forty-five pupils. (2) If two or more sizes of desks are to be used, those 
designed for the smaller pupils should be placed near the windows and, 
if possible, toward the front of the room. Young children need the best 
light, the best opportunity to hear the teacher, and the best position to 
see the board work or any charts the teacher may see fit to display in the 
front of the room. (3) The teacher's desk should be placed at the end of 
the room in front of the children, and nearer to the inner side than to the 
window side. This method of placing the desks will allow forty-five 
desks designed to suit pupils of these grades. That is, it will accommo- 
date five rows, each with nine desks, and leave an aisle next the black- 



Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor 355 

board wall opposite the windows four feet eight inches wide clear of the 
chalk trough, and one from six to seven feet wide in front. (The exact 
width of the front aisle cannot be given because of the variations in the 
depth of the different styles of desks now on the market.) (4) In rooms 
for the fourth and fifth grades, leave an aisle two feet wide next the 
windows, one four feet wide between the rear wall and the rear seats, and 
make the aisles between the rows of desks from front to rear twenty 
inches wide. This placing will allow six rows of desks twenty inches 
wide, and at the same time allow an aisle three and one half feet wide 
clear of the chalk trough next to the wall opposite the windows. If the 
desks to be used for these grades are more than twenty-one inches wide, 
the spacing should be made for five rows of desks, instead of six, other- 
wise there would not be sufficient aisle space next the blackboard oppo- 
site the windows. This arrangement will permit nine desks in each row 
and leave plenty of room in front. (5) When placing the desks in rooms 
for the first, second, and third grades, leave an aisle two feet next the 
window side, one four and one half feet wide between the rear wall and 
the rear seats, and make the aisles nineteen inches wide between the rows 
of desks. This arrangement will permit six rows of desks eighteen 
inches wide and leave an aisle next the blackboard opposite the windows 
four and one half feet wide clear of the chalk trough. It will also allow 
nine desks in each row and leave space in the front for sand trays and the 
teacher's desk. But no more than fifty desks should ever be placed in any 
one room, and this number of pupils is too great for one teacher to handle 
and do justice to all concerned. (6) In all cases where the rooms are larger 
or smaller than twenty-four by thirty- two, the aisle next the windows should 
not be more than two feet wide, otherwise some of the children will be 
removed too far from the light. The aisle between the rear wall and the 
rear seats should be as wide as possible in order to get the pupils near the 
teacher's desk and blackboard, for this wiU insure better light, make it 
easier for the pupils to hear the teacher and to see the work on the front 
blackboard, and it will also aid the teacher in her management. (7) 
The teacher's desk should be small and placed at a point at least three 
fifths of the width of the room away from the window side. This posi- 
tion will, as far as possible, cause aU the children in the room to face away 
from the light when attending to the teacher. The teacher ought not 
to complain, for, while this position of her desk will cause her to face the 
light more squarely, she should be willing to do this instead of exacting 
it of many children, especially since she spends but a small part of the 
time during the session at her desk. 

10. Clean windows give a buoyant atmosphere to the schoolroom and 
at the same time tend to set standards for the home. A full and generous 



356 School Hygiene 

equipment of materials and appliances should be furnished every janitor 
in order to make it as easy and as safe as possible for him to keep the 
windows in good condition. In such details school boards ought not to 
be niggardly. Janitor's excuses often stand in the way of efficient 
service. 

11. Keep the fires going day and night in the stacks connected with the 
closets, if such a method of ventilation is used, in order that no odors 
may escape into the building. It is not enough to build a fire in the morn- 
ing and let it die out toward the close of the school day. There must be 
a constant draft through these stacks. Bank these fires in the evening 
so that throughout the night fires will be kept going and reverse currents 
will be prevented. 

12. If the building is supplied with automatic flush tanks, they should 
be set to operate oftener during school hours than at night, for any wasteful 
use of water will lead school boards to limit the supply. Especial care 
should be taken to see that all closets are thoroughly flushed immediately 
after the close of intermissions. Some janitor or teacher would do a 
good service by inventing a flush tank capable of being regulated by the 
program clock and thus avoid the danger of neglect and at the same 
time save the expense of a useless waste of water. 

13. No crumbs of bread or food of any sort should be scattered in the 
building to tempt rats or mice. Keep these pests out at all hazards, 
for they are dangerous. They carry contagious diseases and are fre- 
quently instrumental in causing fires. 

14. Burn all waste paper each day, for its accumulation anywhere 
in the building means danger. It is far better to spend a little money 
on kindling of a less inflammable nature than to attempt to save by 
storing waste paper. The furnaces are the safest places in which to 
burn this material. 

15. Inspect all fire-fighting appliances at least once a week to see that 
they are in good condition and ready for any emergency. 

16. The walls of all rooms and halls should be swept clean of dust 
and cobwebs as often as exigencies demand, but at least three times a 
term. For this purpose special brushes should be employed and care 
taken to prevent any smudging or discoloration of the walls. It is a good 
plan for a principal in conference with the janitor to set definite dates for 
these special cleanings and to make, at the invitation of the janitor, 
formal and critical inspection of the building immediately thereafter. 
A little military formality in such matters is sometimes very helpful. 

17. Plenty of mats, scrapers, and other practical means of removing 
mud from the shoes of the children before they enter the schoolroom will 
save much time in sweeping and dusting and greatly reduce the wear 



Qualifications and Duties of a School Janitor 357 

and tear of the floors. Even in dry weather an amazing amount of sand 
and grit will cling to the children's shoes while on the playground, and if 
no opportunity is furnished for removing it before the schoolrooms are 
entered, it will be loosened and dropped on the floors beneath the desks. 
Time and money are well spent in teaching children to maintain cleanly 
habits, and to preserve public health and public buildings. The janitor 
must be given authority over the children in this and other matters 
relating to the care of the building. 

18. In fire drills the janitor ought to have a definite program to 
follow, so that in any emergency he will have his duty clearly in mind, 
and know how to perform it most expeditiously and effectively. He 
ought to throw open and firmly fasten the doors of the main exits and then 
hasten to the fire hose. Some of the larger boys can be designated to 
assist with the doors and in this way help to lessen the danger in case of 
necessity. It is the duty of each principal to organize the fire drill in all 
its details and to see that each one knows by practice exactly what he is 
expected to do. 

19. In the case of electrical storms, all external electric wires connect- 
ing with the school building should be "grounded," and during the storm 
season this should be done every evening after school and connections 
remade in the morning. This precaution, of course, will not be necessary 
where there is no doubt as to the safety of insulation, or of the fuses 
provided. Painstaking precaution in such matters is worthy of official 
recognition. 

20. A janitor has a right to the schoolroom immediately after school, 
for, if he is delayed in getting started at his work, it will be necessary to 
slight some part of it. A program for sweeping should be worked out 
with the principal, and all the teachers and pupils should respect it. 
Carefulness in these matters will prevent much trouble and insure better 
hygienic conditions. A janitor's day is necessarily long, but he must not 
be overburdened through the thoughtlessness of others. 



TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

I . Make a thorough report on the following : We have reached that 
stage in the demands of school hygiene where a school for the training of 
school janitors ought to be established in every large city system of schools. 
This should be under the direct charge of the engineer of the school 
system, who should be aided and directed in his work by the superintendent 
of schools and the school health officer. No one should be placed in 



358 School Hygiene 

charge of a school who has not made such professional preparation as is 
here suggested. 

The work of school janitors should be standardized, so as to put into 
their hands such directions and information as will insure definite and 
adequate guidance. 

Rural schools deserve better care, and should have regular and effec- 
tive janitor service. 

The school janitor should be under the direct supervision of the prin- 
cipal of the school, with the cooperation of the engineer and superin- 
tendent of schools. 

2. Experiment with different kinds of floors and floor dressings, in 
order to determine which best preserve the floors, and at the same time 
ofifer no chance to soil clothing. What oils are most effective in prevent- 
ing dust, and are most effective as germicides ? 

3. Carefully study the efifect of frequent scrubbings of schoolroom 
floors. Are they likely to do more harm than good ? Compare the 
effectiveness of oiling floors and of sweeping with some form of dust 
absorbent. 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Boston. Mechanic A rts High School Course for Janitors. Manual Training 

Magazine, v. 12, p. 304. 
BuRRAGE and Bailey. School Sanitation and Decoration. Boston, 

1899. pp. 64-72. 
Chancellor, W. E. Our City Schools, their Direction and Management. 

Boston, 1908. pp. 53-57- 
Frost, W. D. Our Short Course for Jayiitors. Proc. N. E. A., 191 1, 

pp. 990-992. 
Putnam, Helen C. Efficiency of Janitor Service in Sanitary Care of 

School Premises. Journal of Education, Vol. 74, p. 98. 
Wilson, G. M. Standardization of Janitor Service. Proc. N. E. A., 

Department of Superintendence, 1913. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
DISINFECTANTS 

Disinfectants for School Buildings. — In the first place a 
clear distinction between a deodorant and a disinfectant is 
necessary. Deodorization is the mere neutraHzation of offen- 
sive odors. Disinfection is, on the other hand, the process 
by which pathogenic germs and infectious material are de- 
stroyed or are rendered inert. 

Natural Disinfection. — Direct sunUght is the most economi- 
cal and practical of all germicides. Schoolrooms that are 
kept thoroughly clean and receive a thorough sunning each day 
are not Hkely to need much further attention in the matter of 
disinfection. CleanHness and sunshine are worth more than 
any artificial germicides that can be applied to schoolrooms. 
In special emergencies, however, artificial disinfecting is 
necessary. 

Artificial Disinfection. — i . Sulphur Dioxide. — This power- 
ful disinfectant has a limited use on account of its lack of pene- 
tration. When moisture is present, it is very active in surface 
disinfection, which is often needed in those schoolrooms re- 
ceiving Httle or no sunshine. It is easily appHed and the process 
by which it is generated is a simple one. The room should be 
tightly closed. A metalHc pan or bucket which can be heated 
should be partly filled with water and placed in the center of 
the room. Half immerse a vessel in this water by placing 
it on some incombustible substance, such as a brick. This 
last vessel is for the sulphur. Heat the water until it boils 
and then set fire to the sulphur. The sulphur dioxide will 
result. Sulphur dioxide should not be Hberated in a room 
where there are tinted walls or gilt paper. Colored maps, 

359 



360 School Hygiene 

charts, etc., should be removed, because it will discolor 
them, 

2. Formaldehyde. — Perhaps the most powerful of all the 
gaseous disinfectants now known is formaldehyde. This 
material and the methods of applying it are inexpensive. 
This disinfectant is recommended by physicians and boards 
of health, and methods of using it for schoolroom disinfection 
are as follows : — 

(a) The Permanganate Method — i.e. forming formalde- 
hyde gas by mixing 300 cubic centimeters of a 40 per cent 
solution of formaldehyde with 150 grams of potassium per- 
manganate for each 1000 cubic feet of air space to be disin- 
fected. The room should be warm and tightly closed. This 
method is recommended by Dr. Rosenau of the United States 
Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. This can be 
applied easily where the necessary chemicals are readily ob- 
tainable. An ordinary pan can be used in which to place the 
materials, and the reaction which follows will free the gas. 

{b) The Stewart Method — which consists in thoroughly 
spraying the walls, floors, furniture, etc., with a 20 per cent 
solution of formaldehyde. This is a very effective method, 
but is more troublesome to apply. 

In the first of these methods penetration is not claimed, and 
in the latter it is not sufficiently proved to rely upon it wholly. 
However, if penetration is desired, it can be obtained by using 
formaldehyde mixed with the vapor of carboHc acid. In this 
way the tendency to polymerization is entirely destroyed. 
Dr. W. B. McLaughHn^ says, "The mixture which results 
in the best effects is 75 per cent of a 40 per cent solution of 
formaldehyde and 25 per cent of carbolic acid — 8 ounces of 
the mixture to 1000 cubic feet of air space." 

For the floors, doorknobs, handrails, etc., a 40 per cent so- 
lution of formaldehyde can be used. In the case of floors, clean 
sawdust saturated with this solution should be spread over 

^Scientific American Supplement, 1^0. 1706, Sept. 12, 1908. 



Disinfectants 361 

them. This should be swept out before the sawdust becomes 
dry. This process repeated every eight weeks will, in general, 
keep the floors in safe condition. This method is extensively 
used in Boston at present. 

3. Bichloride of Mercury. — Great care should be exer- 
cised to guard this poisonous drug if it is kept in the school 
building. It is often mistaken, on account of its lack of color, 
for something harmless. It should be colored for identifica- 
tion, say with a few drops of a solution of indigo. It can be used 
in the schoolroom for disinfecting the furniture, floors, and 
parts of the clothing. For these purposes i : 1000 solution 
is sufficient. It must not be brought in contact with metals, 
for it destroys them. An excess of albuminous substances 
interferes with its action; for this reason it is not effective 
in disinfecting excreta. 

The foregoing disinfectants are those which are most gen- 
erally used and recommended. They will usually be found 
effective. However, in case that these cannot be obtained, 
the following may be used : i. For floors, cretosol — a teacup- 
ful to a gallon of warm water. This should be appHed before 
sweeping. 2. For wooden handrails and desks, a solution 
of chloride of lime — teacupful to a gallon of water. 

For toilets the following are effective: i. Chloride of 
lime — 4 ounces to the gallon. 2. CarboHc acid — 5 per 
cent solution. 3. Caustic Hme — i part hydrate of Hme to 
8 parts water. 4. Mercuric bichloride — i : 1000. 

Toilets should be flushed frequently and disinfected with a 
solution of cretosol, strength of solution as given above. In 
case any article belonging to a child afflicted with an infectious 
disease cannot be disinfected, it should be burned without delay. 

Disinfectants for School Children. — The need of personal 
disinfection in the schoolroom is almost obviated by the free 
use of pure water, clean towels, and soap. Parents should be 
urged to send their children to school in a clean condition, as 
this greatly simplifies the problems of school hygiene. In case 



362 School Hygiene 

they neglect doing this, teachers must resort to other methods, 
in order to guard the health of the children. 

Personal Disinfection. — {a) The Hands. — Bichloride of 
mercury in a i : 1000 solution may be used. This can be pur- 
chased in tablet form, which is so prepared that it is easy to 
make correct proportion. A 2 per cent solution of carbolic 
acid is also effective. The presence of albuminous or organic 
substances do not interfere with its action. 

{b) " Sore EyesT — That disease popularly known as " sore 
eyes" is of bacterial origin and is spread through the agency 
of flies, the handling of doorknobs and books, and the use of 
common towels. Diseases of the eyes are highly contagious, 
and children so affected should not be allowed to attend school. 
A 40 per cent solution of formaldehyde is good for disinfect- 
ing doorknobs, books, and towels which have been infected 
with these germs. 

(c) Buccal Secretions. — In cases of incipient infectious 
diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, etc., the buccal 
secretions often carry germs. The mouths of those so af- 
fected should be washed with a suitable disinfectant, which 
can be obtained at any drug store. These secretions when 
ejected from the mouth should be subjected to a i : 500 solution 
of formaldehyde. 

TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

1. Should school janitors be instructed in the best means for disinfect- 
ing school buildings and school appliances, or should this be left in the 
hands of the Board of Health? 

2. Under what conditions, if ever, should a schoolroom that is well 
kept be disinfected ? 

3. What is the best method of ridding children of pediculosis (lice) ? 
In what way can the teacher best appeal to parents to keep children at 
home when they are so afiflicted ? 

4. When children come to school with "sore eyes," what is the duty of 
the teacher, not only for the sake of those afflicted, but for those who are 
thereby exposed to infection ? 



Disinfectants 363 

5. Confer with local health authorities relative to the best means of 
disinfection for all cases arising in schools. 

6. What disinfectants should be kept at schools for emergencies ? 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Anderson, J. F. The Antiseptic and Germicidal Properties of Solutions 
of Formaldehyde and their Action upon Toxins. United States Pub- 
lic Health and Marine Hospital Service, Bulletin No. 39. 46 pp. 

McClintic, T. B. Disinfectants, Their Use and Application in the Pre- 
vention of Communicable Diseases. Public Health Bulletin No. 42. 
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912. 46 pp. 

RosENAU, M. J. Disinfection and Disinfectants. Philadelphia, 1902. 
353 PP-, illus. 



INDEX 



Adenoids, 315; case of, showing effects, 
317 ; effect of, on dentition, 259. 

Air, circulation of , to remove superabun- 
dant iieat, 138; current, inducts, 153; 
ground, the dangers of, 22; ground, 
moisture in, 23 ; movements of, caused 
by differences in temperature, 142 ; 
standard purity of, 137; source of, for 
plenum system, 161. 

Arnold, on bacteriological study of school 
utensils, 336. 

Articulation, need of good teeth in, 260. 

Astigmatism, most common eye defect, 
231 ; tests for, 244. 

Athenian and Spartan women contrasted, 
II. 

Back rest, shape and height of, 93. 

Backward children, proper treatment of, 
296 ; special classes for, 297. 

Baseball, a democratic game, 10; team- 
work required in, 10; a typical boy's 
game, 8. 

Basements, for schools, 28; value of, 28. 

Baths, influence of school on home, 100; 
method for installing shower, 99 ; school, 
needed, 98 ; shower, better for schools, 99. 

Bench, proper shape of school, 92. 

Bibliography, air, the need of pure, 139; 
baths for school, 102 ; blackboards, 52 ; 
cleaning schoolrooms, 347 ; desks, 97 ; 
disinfectants, 363 ; disinfection of school 
books, 343 ; drinking fountains and 
drinking cups, 117; fatigue, in rela- 
tion to, 284; hearing of school children, 
249 ; heating of schoolrooms, 192 ; 
health and education, 5 ; humidity 
in the schoolroom, 220; instruction, 
hygiene of, 301 ; janitors, in school, 
358 ; lighting of schoolhouses, 81 ; 
medical inspection of school children, 
335 ; oral hygiene, 263; open-air schools, 
179; on subnormal children, 311; on 
stuttering, 273; play and playgrounds, 
19; schoolhouse construction, 51; 
toilets, 131; ventilation, 172; on hy- 
giene of vision, 246 ; water supply, 108. 



Binet-Simon scale, the use of, 307. 

Blackboards, color of, 43; construction 
of glass, 43 ; covering of, to prevent 
light absorption, 46; height of, above 
floor, 46 ; location of, 45 ; materials 
for, 41 ; use in foreign countries, 41 ; 
value of, in a democracy, 41. 

Blinds, Venetian, not good for schools, 69. 

Book, on hygiene for learning, 288. 

Boyer, on disinfecting school books, 339. 

Briggs, form of mullion used by, 62. 

Bubbling cups, battery of, 115; sanitary 
requisites for, 114. 

Burns, Mr. Allen, on Influence of Parks 
and Playgrounds on Juvenile Delin- 
quency in Chicago, 12. 

Carbon dioxide, plasma of blood carrier 

of, 135- 
Carpet strips, no need of, 40. 
Chair, Moulthrop school, 96; movable 

versus desks, 95. 
Chalk dust, dangers of, 47; protection 

against, 48. 
Character, topics for study of, 4. 
Chittenden, on amount of food for health, 

294. 
City children no place to play, 15. 
City schools, removal to country, 16. 
Clark, John Willis, book cited, 86. 
Classes, difi&culties with imgraded, 309; 

ungraded, 308. 
Classification, problems of, 303. 
Classroom, the floor of, 37 ; height of, 34; 

in high schools, 36; length of, 31; size 

of, 31 ; unit of schoolhouse construc- 
tion, 30; width of, 33. 
Clay, Felix, table from his Modern School 

Buildings, 76. 
Cleaning schoolrooms, 344; vacuum 

system of, 344. 
Closets, dry, methods for keeping pure, 

124. 
Cohn, on acuity of vision, 245. 
Color of walls for schoolrooms, 80. 
Conradi, on speech development of the 

child, 266. 



36s 



366 



Index 



Conservation of health, 2. 
Copenhagen Institute for Cripples, 93. 
Crayon, dustless, not possible, 48 ; proper 

use of, 338. 
Curvature of spine, causes of, 93. 

Defectives, physical impediments of, 306. 

Deformities, 320. 

Degeneracy, dangers of, 13. 

Dental clinics, importance of school, 261 ; 
in schools of Europe, 252. ^ 

Dental decay, causes of, 251; increase in, 
255 ; rapid during school life, 254. 

Dental hygiene, importance of, 262. 

Desk, sanitary, 85 ; writing, of ancient 
scholars, 86; proper height of school, 
90; shape of seat of, 92. 

Desks, adjustable, needed, 89; school, 
chief defects of, 82. 

Desk top, experiment to determine slant 
of, 83 ; height of, above floor, 88 ; plus 
and minus distance, 88; proper dis- 
tance from eye, 88; too flat, 82. 

Development, disproportionate, 8. 

Diffusion of gases, principle, 134; and 
ventilation, 146. 

Disease, the schoojs and, 313. 

Diseases, among school children, 319; 
contagious, in schools, 320. 

Disinfectants, for school children, 361 ; 
for school buildings, 359. 

Distaste, for learning, 3. 

Doors, without panels, 40. 

Drinking cups, bacteriological studies of, 
iii; dangers of common, 109; in- 
dividual, not satisfactory in schools, in. 

Drinking fountains, forms of, 113; loca- 
tion of, 116; methods of constructing, 
lis; rules for selecting, 114; for rural 
school, 113. 

Ducts, arrangement of exit, 155; size, 
shape, and position of inlet, 152. 

Dust, methods of getting rid of, 345. 

Ebbinghaus, method of testing for fatigue, 
281. 

Education, proper ideals of, 313. 

Erasers, cleaning of, 47. 

Eugenics, importance of, 14. 

Examinations, nervousness in anticipa- 
tion of, 276; worry over, 277. 

Exceptional children, movement for care 
of, 302. 

Expression, value of, 291. 



Eyeball, effect of shape on vision, 222. 

Eyes, children's, 221. 

Eyesight, country and city children's, 

compared, 232; of school children, 228; 

of Japanese school children, 229. 

Factories, should not be near schools, 27. 
Fans, large, needed, 161; location of, 162. 
Fatigue, of eyes in myopia, 231 ; methods 

of testing, 280; normal, 279; normal, 

is healthful, 274; and posture, 278; 

products, 277 ; symptoms of, 278. 
Ferrell, Dr., on L. R. S. privy, 126. 
Fire, danger of, in schools, 27. 
Fire escapes, not to be depended on, 27. 
Fitz's test for carbon dioxide, 170. 
Flues, asperating, 157. 
Foster, Professor, quoted, 70. 
Franklin, A. B., on effect of winds on 

ventilation, 166. 
Fresh air, amount required, 136. 
Fuchs, on hypermetropia, 224; on troubles 

of myopes, 228. 
Furnace, hot-air, advantages and dangers 

of, 188; use of, 188. 

Games, educational value of, 9 ; girls', 
deserve study, 10; girls', more indi- 
vidualistic, 11; girls', nature of, 10; 
socializing function of, 8. 

Glass, ribbed or prism, value of, 74. 

Glass surface, amount of, needed, 53 ; 
requirements in Europe, 54. 

Goddard, modification of Binet-Simon 
tests, 310. 

Griesbach, method of testing for fatigue, 
281. 

Groos, on play, 7. 

Gutters, need of, below eaves, 24. 

Gymnastic exercises and play contrasted, 8. 

Habits, immoral, costly in athletics, 12; 
saving through, 297. 

Hatch, on artificial lighting, 76. 

Health, applies to mind as well as body, 
285 ; and character, i ; the greatest of 
assets, 2 ; the nation's foundation, 3. 

Hearing, causes of defective, 247 ; dis- 
advantages of defective, 248; tests for 
defectives, 247 ; of school children, 247. 

Heat, loss of, from body, 181. 

Heating, age of pupils a factor in school- 
room, 183 ; good buildings simplify 
problems of, 183 ; hot- water, systems of, 



Index 



367 



I go; local conditions in relation to, 
184; methods of, schoolroom, 184; 
nature of school work in relation to, 
183; open fire, 184; location of plant, 
28; with stoves, 185. 

Henry, on relative humidity, 198. 

Holt, on diseases of infancy and childhood, 

315. 

Home study, good and evils of, 288 ; diffi- 
culties with, 237. 

Hookworm disease, manner of contract- 
ing, 125. 

Horizon line, difficulties with low, 26. 

Howell, on moisture in expired breath, 
201 ; on myopia, 225. 

Humidifying, methods of, 210. 

Humidity, methods of determining, 202 ; 
need of, in schoolrooms, 194; tables 
relating to, 196-197; how to use tables 
for determining, 204. 

Hygiene, departments of, in school sys- 
tems, 330; as a science, i. 

Hypermetropia, 223. 

Illtmaination, reproduction of a Middle 

Age, facing, 86. 
Impressions and expressions, 290. 
Instinct, the play, 6. 
Institute, Copenhagen, for Cripples, 93. 
Instruction, hygiene of, 285. 

Jacketed stove, value of, 185. 

Jacotot, 15. 

Janitor, directions for school, 353; im- 
portance of school, 352 ; professional 
quaUfications of a school, 352. 

Johnson, on analysis of games, 8. 

Kirchener, on tuberculosis among chil- 
dren, 319. 

Lamp, form of tungsten recommended 
by Boston Committee, 77. 

Lavatories, in basements, 29. 

Lead pencils, dangers from the common 
use of, 336. 

Light, east, 67 ; electric and gas, con- 
trasted, 75 ; north, good for art work, 
71; south,' bad for classrooms, 68; 
west, good for classrooms, 71. 

Lighting, artificial, in schoolrooms, 79; 
selecting a site for schoolhouses with 
reference to, 72; imilateral, reasons 
for, 58. 



Lights, location of electric, in classrooms, 

79- 
Lincoln, on value of action, 291. 
Location of school buildings, disputes 

caused by, 21. 
Louisiana, sanitary code on common 

drinking cups, 112. 
Lovett and Sever, on spinal curvature in 

children, 94; on treatment of lateral 

curvature of spine, 95. 

McMurtrie, D. C, on Copenhagen In- 
stitute for Cripples, 94. 

Malnutrition, 320. 

Manual training, rooms for, in basements, 
30; significance of, 292. 

Marvin, on methods of determining humid- 
ity percentage, 203; on moisture in 
space, 194. 

Medical inspection of school children, 
313; in certain cities of America, 326; 
history of, 322; value of, 322. 

Mental development, follow the order 
of, 295. 

Moisture, amount of, mixed with air, 198; 
amount of, in air due to expired breath 
and evaporation from body, 200. 

Mouth, an unclean, 259. 

MuUions, width of, between windows, 62. 

Myopia, 225; civilization and, 227; men- 
tal effect of, 226. 

Nervous system, premature demands on 

the, 294. 
Noise, loss of time due to, 25. 

Open-air schools, apparatus and furniture 
needed for, 175; benefits of, 176; 
benefits of, in foreign countries, 177; 
special clothing for, 173; history of, 
1 73 ; the need of, 309 ; work in England, 
178. _ 

Open windows during recess, 148. 

Ottoff, Dr., on teeth of Igorots of Bontoc, 
256. 

Outdoor work, the usefulness of, 177. 

Overstimulation and overcrowding, dan- 
gers of, 292. 

Overwork and worry, 319. 

Oxygen, demands for increase of, 133 ; 
how it gets to tissues, 133 ; life and, 132. 

Pardee, on refractive errors, 232. 
Parker, Dr. Esther, on spinal curvature 
among college women, 94. 



368 



Index 



Pens and pencils, proper use of, 337. 

Philippines, modern language teaching in, 
296. 

Physical education, the hygiene of, 299. 

Platform, teacher's, not needed, 37. 

Play, utilizing, impulse for, 15 ; and in- 
fancy, 7; moral significance of, 12. 

Playgrounds, failure to provide ample, 
16; need of, in the country, 17 ; need of 
larger, 14; not possible to have suffi- 
cient, in large cities, 16. 

Play rooms, in basements, 29. 

Posture, difficulty of getting good, 84. 

Pressure tank system of water supply, 104. 

Primitive schoolhouse, a California, 21. 

Privy, the L. R. S. sanitary, 126. 

Psychology, abnormal, for special teachers, 

305- 
Psychrometer, method of using sling, 203. 

Red corpuscles, as oxygen carriers, 135. 

Rest period, midday, 178. 

Richards, on humidity and comfort, 219. 

Roosa, on defective eyesight, 223. 

Rowe, Stuart H., quoted, 70. 

Rowe, W. A., on percentage of humidity 
practicable, 215. 

Rural schools, investigation into sanitary 
conditions of, 130; their lack of play- 
grounds, 16; hygienic survey, 16. 

Russell, fresh air in relation to certain 
diseases, 198. 

Sanitation, general, 321. 

School cannot take place of home, 4. 

Schoolbooks, disinfection of, 339. 

School buildings, location of, 20; away 
from noise, 25. 

School hygiene, division of, 3. 

School utensils and books, hygiene of, 336. 

Schuyten, method of testing for fatigue, 
281. 

Scott, on modern eye strain, 24. 

Semiopen-air rooms, method of prepar- 
ing, 174. 

Septic tank disposal, form of, 129; for 
washout toilets, 125. 

Sessions, half-day, in school, 2. 

Shade, Draper window, 69; window, 
troubles \yith, 69. 

Site, the need of selecting a good, for 
buildings, 23. 

Slates, no longer excuse for use of, 341. 

Sleeping porches, benefits of, 176. 



Smedley tests of eyesight of Chicago school 
children, 228. 

Snellen test card, 244. 

Snyder, steel Hntel used by, 65. 

Soil, bacteria in, 22; importance of, for 
school site, 21; a porous, needed, 22. 

Soot, effect on leaves, 214. 

Spinal curvature, 93 ; treatment of, 95. 

Stammerer, mental condition of the, 271. 

Stammering and stuttering, 270; predis- 
posing causes, 264. 

Steam heating, advantages and disad- 
vantages, 189. 

Stove, jacketed, aid to ventilation, 158. 

Study, teaching children how to, 286; 
versus worry, 275. 

Stutterers, what teachers can do for, 266. 

Stuttering, more boys than girls given to, 
264; imitation as an immediate cause 
of, 265; suggestions to overcome, 267. 

Subnormal classes, special buildings for, 
310. 

Sweeping schoolrooms, 346. 

Swimming pools, loi. 

Tables, relative humidity, 206. 

Teachers, adjustment of, to pupils, 15; 
preparation of, for subnormal children, 
304 ; duty of, regarding health of pupils, 

4- 

Teeth, dangers of decayed, 259; deposits 
on, 260; school children's, 250; re- 
sults of examination of school children's, 
in United States, 253 ; soft food and 
decay of, 255 ; suggestions on care of, 
261. 

Temperature, proper, for schoolrooms, 
181 ; relation of clothing to required, 
183. 

Tests, chemical, for carbon dioxide, 170; 
to determine efficiency of ventilating 
systems, 169. 

Thermostats, 191. 

Toilet rooms, floors of, 119; good light 
needed in, 118; treatment of walls of, 
119. 

Toilets, automatic washout, 123; in 
basements, 29 ; forms of sanitary, for 
the country, 126; dangers of insanitary, 
in the country, 125; flushing, by clock- 
work, 1 24 ; location of, in school build- 
ings, 118; on main floors, 122; methods 
of placing, in room, 118; number of 
seats needed, 120; ventilation of, 122. 



Index 



369 



Toothbrush, teaching teachers how to 
conduct drill, 256; proper method of 
using, 258; need of teaching children 
use of, 257. 

Tooth powder, 261. 

Topics for investigation, air, the need of 
pure, 130; baths for schools, loi ; char- 
acter and health, 4; cleaning school- 
rooms, 346 ; desks, 96 ; drinking foun- 
tains and drinking cups, 116; disin- 
fection, 362 ; eyesight and hygiene of 
vision, 24s ; fatigue, 283 ; hygiene of 
hearing, 249; humidity in school- 
rooms, 219 ; hygiene of instruction, 300; 
janitorial work, 357 ; Ughting of school- 
rooms, 81 ; medical inspection of school 
children, 334; open-air schools and 
open-air porches, 179; playgrounds 
and games, 18; school buildings, con- 
struction and sanitation, 49; school 
utensils and books, 342 ; stuttering, 
273; subnormal children, 311; tem- 
perature and methods of heating, 
192 ; care of teeth, 263 ; sanitary 
toilets, 131; ventilation, 171; water 
supply, 108. 

Transoms, uselessness in school buildings, 
39- 

Type, proper for school books, 234. 

T3rphoid fever, and insanitary toilets, 126. 

Unity, Greek ideal of physical and spirit- 
ual, 2. 

Urinals, best form of, 121; choice of 
materials for, 121; general require- 
ments of, 120; method of ventilating, 
121. 

Ventilation, difficulties in warm climates, 
143 ; elementary principles of, 141 ; 
gravity systems of, 150; home and 
school contrasted, 151; jacketed stove 
as aid to, 187; mechanical means for, 
159; plenum system of, 159; new 



theories of, 137; of toilets and urinals, 
122; through windows, 147. 

Vision, civilization and, 242 ; effects of 
sudden contrasts on, 240 ; eye naturally 
adjusted to distant, 241 ; general igno- 
rance concerning laws of, 59; use of 
small objects in nature deleterious to, 
238; results of tests of, 228; testing, 
of school children, 243 ; school condi- 
tions required for hygiene of, 233 ; cases 
of superacute, 245 ; weakness due to 
lack of vitality, 240; writing and, 237. 

Voice, hygiene of the, 300. 

Wall space, dead, in front of window, 61. 

Water pail in schools, 102. 

Water supply, method of cooling, 114; 
pressure tank system, 104; for schools, 
SI- 

Water systems and schools, 102. 

Wells at rural schools, 106. 

Whitten, H. H., on effect of winds on ven- 
tilating systems, 164. 

Williams-Freeman, Dr., on vision of coun- 
try and city children, 232. 

Winch, on mental hygiene in day-school 
children, 283. 

Windbreaks, use of, for school buildings,i67. 

Window, breeze, 66 ; dangers of facing, 
65 ; difficulty of placing, 55 ; need of 
double, 149; height above floor, 55; 
height at top of, 57; orientation of, 67; 
placing of, 59. 

Window boards, 147. 

Winds, efiect of, on ventilating systems, 
163. 

Wolperts' test for carbon dioxide, 170. 

Work, properly apportioned, is healthful, 
285 ; and play, the balancing of, 18. 

Writing, rapid, and flat-top desks, 87. 

Young, on type for school books, 235. 
Zellweger's air washer and humidifier, 218. 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York 
CHICAGO BOSTON SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS ATLANTA 



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